If Mac Jones were the QB of the Jets or Panthers and playing identical to how he is now, I wouldn't give up more than a 6th or 7th for him, and that's only if I was looking to bring him in as a backup because I think he's better than 90% of the backups in the NFL right now.
Now, if he were playing for the Jets, I think he'd be playing better than Zach Wilson would be, because at least he'd have actual skilled NFL players with some talent around him. Folks love to make excuses for other QB's, like Zach getting killed behind his offensive line, or Bryce Young struggling because of the lack of playmakers around him, but Mac gets none of that benefit of the doubt here, and he's got both problems staring him in the face.
I do not think Mac is going to win a Super Bowl, or ever be a top 10 QB for that matter. I never push back on folks that feel that he's a bad quarterback. I push back when I see him blamed for shit outside of his control, or when he does make a play and his teammates fuck him over, I'll point that out. That's what objective analysis looks like. What we see here in most cases is so far from that, I try not to acknowledge it a lot, but it's literally every thread. Go here, it's Mac bashing, go there, it's Mac bashing, and its constant even in weeks he really shouldn't be pointed out as the problem.
I mean,
@E5 Yaz just watched the video I posted from the Eagles game and came away from it saying Mac looked pretty good. PFF had Mac rated as like the #6 QB in week one. He went 35/54 for 316 yards, 3tds, 1 int.
Here's the GOAT thread after that game, in which Mac is immediately shit on. The standards he's being held to, are fucking outrageous:
https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/game-1-philly-goats.40455/
It's funny, looking back at that thread, there's things in there that are still being discussed now.
Someone made a point that Mac was throwing short passes because they didn't trust him to throw it deep. I made the same point then that I made today (of course, nobody else remembers, or have chosen to forget that this is Bill O'Brien's offense):
Or maybe it's about taking what the defense is giving, and also a bit of recognition that it's not Mac, we have no outside threats at receiver, especially without Parker.
And it's kind of Bill O'Brien's thing. Here's a piece on his philosophy from prior to the season:
https://www.patriots.com/news/analysis-what-will-the-patriots-offense-look-like-with-bill-o-brien-returning