Four years ago, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan had numerous options in a quarterback-heavy draft.
Sitting at No. 3, the 49ers could get who they wanted and ultimately took Trey Lance, who never played as much as two starters who came after him — Justin Fields and Mac Jones. Now, Shanahan has Jones as backup to Brock Purdy, and ESPN’s Bill Barnwell sees it as a win-win.
Barnwell noted that Shanahan “debated drafting” Jones instead of Lance, who started only four games for the 49ers before a 2023 trade with the Dallas Cowboys. Jones meanwhile started strong with the New England Patriots before his career petered out followed by a trade to the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2024.
“Jones’ lone successful season as a pro puts him one ahead of the guy the 49ers did go with, but I’m not sure either of those moves would be considered a success,” Barnwell wrote. “This will be the best offensive infrastructure Jones has played in since his time at Alabama.”
Jones could benefit from the 49ers as another recent backup did — Sam Darnold — as Barnwell noted. In addition, the 49ers have a veteran backup with 49 games of starting experience.
How Mac Jones Could Follow the Sam Darnold Plan
San Francisco will have to face Darnold with the Seattle Seahawks twice year because of his new-found success, but he will be forever indebted to the 49ers for helping him rebuild his career. Jones could be taking notes.
“If there’s one player attempting to explicitly go on the Darnold rejuvenation path, it’s Jones,” Barnwell wrote. “Darnold restarted his career by joining the 49ers in 2023, where he spent the season as a backup to Brock Purdy. Darnold threw only 46 passes in a San Francisco uniform, most of which came in a meaningless Week 18 game against the Rams. Working with coach Kyle Shanahan apparently did enough to rebuild Darnold’s confidence before he left for a one-year deal with Minnesota, though. You know what happened next.”
“Like Darnold, Jones was once regarded as a promising young quarterback, only for his game to fall apart amid injuries, porous offensive lines and questionable coaching,” Barnwell continued. “That story was always a little too simplistic — the Patriots did a great job of protecting him in obvious passing situations as a rookie — but whatever confidence he had quickly fell by the wayside. He spent most of his sophomore season arguing with Matt Patricia and Joe Judge. In Year 3, with undrafted rookie DeMario Douglas as his top wideout, he was benched for Bailey Zappe.”
“Moving on to Jacksonville last season and filling in for the injured Trevor Lawrence, Jones looked lost in moments,” Barnwell added. “He was extremely sensitive to even the threat of pressure and sometimes missed open receivers from clean pockets. There’s still some anticipation there — he has moments when he looks like an accurate passer — but he didn’t have the sort of consistency needed from a starting NFL signal-caller.”
Jones gets to change all of that under Shanahan as Darnold did in the Bay Area during the 2023 season. Darnold fell short of expectations in his previous stops with the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers before his time with the 49ers.
Mac Jones Faces 1 Burning Question With 49ers
Jones has an ideal situation around him, but as Barnwell there’s one factor that’s up in the air for the former Alabama standout’s development.
“The question is whether he ever sees the field,” Barnwell wrote. “There has been a need for a reliable backup in San Francisco, even after Purdy’s ascension. Purdy suffered a serious elbow injury in the 2022 NFC Championship Game, left a 2023 loss to the Ravens with a stinger and missed two games in 2024 with shoulder and elbow injuries.”
“Jones probably isn’t going to win the job away from the $265 million QB, but don’t be surprised if he plays well enough to get a more significant opportunity elsewhere on his next deal in 2026,” Barnwell concluded.
