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USA Today via Reuters

USA Today via Reuters

There were a number of young quarterbacks being linked to the New England Patriots at the 2021 NFL Draft earlier this year. The likes of Justin Fields, Kyle Trask and Mac Jones were the three names being mentioned as Bill Belichick looked to find a long-term Tom Brady replacement.

USA Today via Reuters

It was the latter who was selected as the 15th overall pick by the Patriots. Jones enjoyed a fine 2020-21 season with the Alabama Crimson Tide football team playing under HC Nick Saban. He led them to the CFP National Championship title as they comfortably outplayed Justin Fields-led Ohio State Buckeyes.

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Jones made his first appearance for New England in the preseason game against Washington Football Team. But popular analyst Skip Bayless remains unconvinced by the rookie quarterback.

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Skip Bayless compares Mac Jones, Tom Brady to Patrick Mahomes

Mac Jones enjoyed his first appearance as a New England Patriots player on Thursday at the Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts. He was inserted into the game with 55 seconds left in the first quarter as Cam Newton came off. Jones completed 2 of 5 passes for 20 yards on his first possession and led a 10-play, 43-yard drive which concluded in a 50-yard field goal to give the home team a 6-0 lead.

At the end of the night, the Patriots secured a comfortable 12-22 win in front of ecstatic home fans. Mac’s stat line read 13 completions on 19 attempts for 87 yards which weren’t impressive in itself but there were plenty of positives. Fox Sports analyst, Skip Bayless, took to Twitter with an interesting comparison involving Jones and two Super Bowl MVPs – Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes.

Speaking to Zack Cox of NESN, Patriots HC Bill Belichick was satisfied with his rookie QB’s display earlier this week. “We’ll look at it on film and see. Some good things, plenty of things we can improve on. Same with everybody,” Belichick said.

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It will be interesting to see if Belichick opts to hand Jones a starting spot ahead of veteran QB Cam Newton. But comparisons to Brady and Mahomes are definitely a bit premature at the moment.

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