Rob Ninkovich Slams Mac Jones: Did the Patriots Make the Right Call? | GSMC Sports Podcast

we had a little bit of a technical issue at the end of that last segment but uh we are now going to be moving on to our final topic of the day where we will be talking about the comments made from former Patriots Edge rusher Rob ninkovic about the Patriots quarterback situation over the past couple years and specifically what he had to say about M Jones ma Jones obviously now in Jacksonville was the first the first round selection of the Patriots in 2021 was thought that he was going to finally be sort of the next quarterback of the future following Tom Brady's retirement and one season of an unsuccessful Cam Newton campaign campaign that M Jones was going to be the answer and for 2021 I think that he did do just about everything he could they won 10 games he was selected to the Pro Bowl for whatever that's worth and he had a good season but from from that point on it just continued to get worse and worse and talked about it on the show before I think that that is in large part because of the incompetence of the Patriots front office and coaches of not putting together a good enough surrounding talent for offensive line and receivers to actually help a Young quarterback develop I just don't think he ever ever really stood a chance based off of sort of his surrounding situations but he also probably was never the guy at the end of the day but that being said former Patriots Edge rusher Rob ninkovic had some pretty harsh words about uh M Jones ninkovic was a starter for the Patriots for a handful of years in the 2010s won two super bowls with the team and he's still in tune with the Patriots and he now hosts the Dan and ninko show with Dan O'Brien and yesterday there some clips going viral about ninkovic t badmouthing m Jones a little bit Dan O'Brien mentioned that M Jones doesn't like ninkovic and he proceeded to go off on him he said that he would smack the bleep out of ma Jones and also included a pretty funny impersonation of Mac just how timid he was at the press conferences especially by the end it was definitely something as a Patriots fan myself I felt bad for ma Jones but he almost painted the picture as well just the way with how he spoke and what he said as you know a BigTime victim as well and you know he took accountability some of the things he said was right but it just kind of it it just didn't go out go down well in New England whether it's m Jones's fault or not so pretty again pretty harsh words from Rob ninkovic the way that he went in on him I would recommend you you know checking out that entire episode for more context on all of that but M Jones just played pretty well in the preseason for the Jaguars and it has led to a little bit of a conversation among Patriots fans and others about this idea that the Patriots should have decided to keep M Jones one last season and start to build up the remainder of the roster because as we've seen in the preseason even with Drake may now who is their their future or at least is hoped to be that the offensive line is still a mess and the receivers still are also not very good and you know with the third overall pick they could have had a number of different options they could have gone with either a receiver or an offensive lineman Marvin Harrison Jr or Joe Al or they could have potentially traded that third overall pick to move down a bit and accumulate a number of different draft picks for the future to fill out some of those holes and maybe still even potentially get a top 10 player in the draft now you know you can't have it all Patriots fans also are oftentimes very difficult to please ultimately so I think that you know where I have landed on this is the idea that I do understand how messy the situation is with the Patriots and that they have a lot of room to grow I think when you're at the top of the draft like that especially in a strong quarterback class that you just have to take a swing at the the best available guy and it's not even like Drake May was some afterthought who you know just kind of happened to be thrown into it because the Patriots needed a quarterback and he was available Drake May was somebody that at the beginning of the 2023 college football season there were legitimate talks about the idea of it was always going to be Caleb Williams being drafted number one but it was this idea that Drake May isn't actually as far away from Caleb Williams as previously thought now ultimately the momentum on that died and may ended up falling to number three as Jaden Daniels put together a Heisman season and catapulted himself probably what would have been outside of the first round to the number two overall pick so you know I think that it was a golden opportunity that the Patriots could not pass up on but I do also understand that there are a lot of other issues with how this team is currently constructed and they have a lot of room to grow M Jones what I'll say about him is again I defend him I think if he landed in a different situation I still look back to San Francisco when there was at least that sort of smoke screen about the idea of how MA Jones could have potentially gone number three and then they ended up going with Trey Lance instead I feel like if M Jones landed in San Francisco there's a good chance he could still be the starting quarterback there and Pie I mean pery yes at this point 100% is better but I do wonder if M Jones would have had a more stable place to develop in I wonder if he could have been able to actually pan out there because again his rookie season when things were more functional for the Patriots was actually pretty good all things considered and yeah they got their doors blown off in the playoffs against the bills but that was a Patriots team that probably shouldn't have been in the playoffs to begin with part of it was based off M Jones a lot of it was based off of again bill bich I still think that bill bellich the coach is a great option for any team Bill bich the general manager sort of killed this Patriots Patriots run is even probably the wrong word to put because at that point you know they had want to playoff game in a handful of years and they had a Cam Newton year in there as well but you know Bel was on a rooll I think even in that Cam Newton year I believe the Patriots won seven games in 2020 there was really no way that they should have um or it was 2019 2020 I don't know um the Patriots should not have won that many games and Bel kept the Patriots in it far longer than they should have been but ultimately again bad roster decisions and not just the roster itself but obviously the entire coaching debacle of having Matt Patricia and Joe judge as your co- offensive coordinators and the mess that that was was just it was too much for Bill bich to continue basically putting out fires that he was also creating while also trying to run a football team he was just so spread thin and by the end of it was just struggling to you know do his job but ultimately I think they made the right decision and you know just to these quotes about Rob nickovic the idea of I understand you know M Jones even if he was a good talent the one of the big things that ninkovic was sort of hitting on during all of this is the fact that he said that he needs a quarterback with some more nuts as his starter and he obviously played under Tom Brady or with Tom Brady I should say and he saw what that true leadership looks like and even when again I'm a Patriots fan I was probably overly optimistic Pro ma Jones for a little bit there it's not like he ever screamed leader and especially once the 2000 it was the 2022 offseason when it was coming together with Matt Patricia and Joe judge and they're playing these preseason games it's like oh wow this is going very poorly M Jones was complaining all the way through publicly sort of yelling at players and coaches on the sideline um and I get it it was must have been an extremely frustrating situation watching his professional career basically sabotaged by the people that were supposed to be nurturing him and helping him grow but I do think that there is a very real difference in as Rob ninkovic put it the demeanor between ma Jones talking and Drake May talking that being said we've had a lot more experience with M Jones in at the NFL level than with Drake may you know who knows what may will sound like after the Patriots offense or the Patriots offense doesn't show up and you know they potentially lose a game something like 103 or you know multiple of those games where last year they lost three games I think it was while allowing 10 points or fewer and that just you know if that's the case again with the Patriots obviously hopefully it isn't for them but you know what will Drake may sound like on the mic after that feel like it's a pretty tough go especially when it's week after week the offense continuing to not come up for them anything you say is going to get a little bit tiresome and ultimately I feel like Drake May is Cap first off I mean again from leadership and demeanor perspective I think that he does just sound a lot more confident at on the mic again for whatever that's worth in a more limited sample size but I think it's that and I think he's more capable physically and from a skill perspective of being the leader that the Patriots need to sort of get out of this funk that has been striking them for the past few years but let me know what your thoughts are in the comments section but that is all the time we have for today today thank you very much for tuning in to the gsmc sports podcast thank you to the gsmc sports network for allowing us to host this show remember to like follow subscribe wherever you keep up with us be sure to check us out on social media as well for more exclusive short content and we will be back tomorrow afternoon at 2 o'clock p.m. Eastern same time as always we will see you then take care let's go I wake up it's a bad day I'm tired of and the Cofe ain't hit yet damn ain't that great I don't want to