Could Dolphins trade for Mac Jones? McCourty considers possibility originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Mac Jones seems to love life in Jacksonville. But could Florida’s other AFC team have a more immediate need for his services?
THE The Miami Dolphins roll with Skylar Thompson as the starting quarterback in Week 3 after Tua Tagovailoa suffered a scary concussion during last Thursday’s defeat against the Buffalo Bills. Miami recently signed Tyler Huntley out of the Baltimore Ravens‘ practice squad, but neither Thompson nor Huntley appear to be viable long-term options with Tagovailoa he would head to injured reserve and is expected to miss at least the next four weeks.
That’s where Jones might come in – at least if you ask his former New England Patriots teammate Devin McCourty.
McCourty joined Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio on Tuesday’s episode of PFT live to list current NFL quarterbacks who could benefit from a “mulligan draft” – that is, they would have benefited from being drafted by a different team. McCourty’s first pick was Jones, who had a solid rookie season in New England but failed in 2022 and 2023 due to rampant offensive dysfunction before the Patriots traded him to Jacksonville last offseason.
When discussing Jones, McCourty raised the possibility of the Dolphins trading for Jones, noting that Miami and the San Francisco 49ers both have been linked to the Alabama product at one point.
“Maybe Miami calls him and he gets traded to Miami – Miami, San Francisco“There’s a lot of teams that have been dismissed as places he could have gone,” McCourty said. “I know Mac would love to go through the (2021) draft again.”
The 49ers’ interest in Jones ahead of the 2021 NFL Draft is well documented, as Head coach Kyle Shanahan has given serious thought take Jones instead of Trey Lance. But the Dolphins also have a connection to Jones; amid Tagovailoa’s struggles during the 2021 season, Then-head coach Brian Flores reportedly told Tagovailoa to his face that he wished the team had brought in Jones to replace him.
Flores is obviously long gone, but Miami – with its dynamic playmakers like Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle and De’Von Achane and a creative facilitator in Mike McDaniel – seems like an environment in which Jones could thrive. In fact, our own Tom E. Curran argued last season that Tagovailoa and Jones are ‘virtually interchangeable’ in terms of skills, and that Jones could thrive playing the role of “leader” for the Dolphins as he did on a loaded Alabama team in college.
The question of course is whether the Jaguars would like to separate from Jones, who is a Trevor Lawrence Lawrence and Jones are the Jaguars’ only active QBs, so they likely won’t want to trade Jones without adding another viable replacement.
But would the Dolphins be desperate enough to get a top QB and make a compelling offer to Jacksonville? It’s a situation that’s worth at least monitoring until Miami clarifies its long-term plan for the position.
