The San Franicsco 49ers' free agent pickup of Mac Jones is about more than simply quarterback depth. The Niners know they need to gain leverage for Brock Purdy's contract negotiations, in part due to the pain they endured at the hands of their "ruthless" tackle Trent Williams.
The San Francisco 49ers reached an agreement with quarterback Mac Jones on a two-year contract worth $7 million, with $5 million guaranteed, creating an interesting reunion-of-sorts between the quarterback and the heart of head coach Kyle Shanahan.
According to reports, changes within the 49ers organization in recent weeks have drastically reduced Shanahan's role in personnel decisions. Still, it's difficult to envision that Shanahan's affection for Jones didn't play a significant role in the Niners' transaction.
The connection between the pair dates back to the 2021 NFL Draft, when the 49ers traded up to obtain the third overall pick. At the time, widespread speculation suggested–and many in the media falsely reported and endlessly repeated–Jones would be San Francisco's selection, despite the expectation that such a significant move up in the draft order wouldn't be required to obtain Jones' services.
In the end, San Francisco drafted Trey Lance, and Jones fell to the New England Patriots at pick No. 15. Both teams soon regretted their respective decisions, and shipped their quarterbacks off in exchange for minimal draft compensation.
However, Shanahan later confirmed a prior interest in Jones, stating Lance and Jones were his two top preferences in the leadup to the drat. Now, the coach and his backup draft choice will finally have the opportunity to join forces–with Jones taking the reigns as the 49ers' backup quarterback.
49ers new QB Mac Jones' impact on Brock Purdy
But what does this mean for 49ers' starting QB Brock Purdy, amidst his ongoing negotiations with the team for a long-term deal? Jones does bring substantial NFL experience to San Francisco, and the former first-round pick enjoyed enough immediate success as a rookie to finish second in 2021 Offensive Rookie of the Year voting, while Purdy finished third the following season.
However, that success was short-lived, as the more pro film coaches obtained of the former Alabama prospect, the more the QB's productivity plummeted, eventually leading to his trade to Jacksonville prior to the 2024 season. Jones failed to demonstrate meaningful improvement during extended play behind QB Trevor Lawrence, causing the Jaguars to part ways with Jones in favor of former 49ers backup quarterback Nick Mullens.
While there's little immediate hope for Jones as a starting quarterback on the football field, demonstrated by some abysmal film from his seven starts in Jacksonville, Jones is likely to play a significant role for the 49ers in the lead-up to the 2025 regular season.
Assuming reports of the 49ers' front office's disapproval of recent personnel decisions are accurate, a significant portion of that disapproval is likely due to Shanahan and general manager John Lynch's mismanagement of contract negotiations with a player who has been overlooked, or no one cares to talk about—starting left tackle Trent Williams.
The problematic contract talks with wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk continue to receive the majority of attention—likely due to the rumors of San Francisco's interest in trading the receiver just months after signing him to a long term deal, and the trade's upcoming deadline. But the Aiyuk negotiations were merely a circus of absurdity, while the team's dealings with Williams were–in technical terms–a complete trainwreck.
The Niners' front offices' propensity to ignore the offensive line to the maximum extent possible has proven to be a costly mistake during the "Lynchahan" era. The majority of these costs have come in the form of important losses and injured quarterbacks, but last years' mishap hit owner Jed York directly in the pocketbook.
49ers learn "ruthless" lesson from Trent Williams
With Williams quickly nearing the end of his illustrious career, the 14-year veteran's decision to play in 2024 was surely met with relief by both Shanahan and Lynch. The need to address the team's important and expensive left tackle position could be put off for at least one more year. Or at least they thought so.
If York and the San Francisco 49ers' top leaders plan to be "ruthless" moving forward, they should take notes from their beloved and fan-favorite left tackle.
Williams was entering his fifth year with the team, and the fourth year of a six-year contract which made him the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history. And although he was a reigning three-time All-Pro, he was entering his Year-36 season, which is years beyond the "prime" of any top-end left tackle–ever. Yes, he was beginning to show signs of his age, but he was clearly the best offensive lineman on the roster, with some pundits continuing to claim he was currently the best offensive lineman to ever set foot on the gridiron.
So although a position of need, at least the 49ers could move on from left tackle to more pressing positions, and more pressing matters, like attempting to placate any wide receiver dissatisfied with their guaranteed eight-figure contracts. And so they did; through free agency, and then the draft, Shanahan and Lynch filled the roster with the pieces they believed they needed for another immediate Super Bowl run in 2024. Those pieces didn't include a left tackle, because they had a left tackle–a historically great left tackle, and the richest left tackle in league history–on the roster for the 2024 season.
And then they learned a painful lesson: Their star left tackle Trent Williams wasn't just "ruthless" on the football field.
As fans and players across the league have witnessed over the course of his career, Williams has enough bite that he doesn't need to bark. How many highlight clips have we seen of players who didn't realize they had a problem until they found themselves pancaked into the ground or manhandled right off the screen?
Similarly, Williams didn't bark about a new contract; Instead, he and his team patiently waited through free agency and the draft, as his football team tended to other pressing matters and, as expected, did nothing substantial to shore up the exterior of their offensive line for current or future seasons.
He had his leverage. And was it ruthless? Absolutely. But similar to what a sizable portion of the 49ers' roster was told over recent days, "It's just business. Nothing personal."
Shanahan and Lynch would have preferred getting pancaked over learning they didn't have a left tackle in 2024–or, at least not one who was willing to play per the terms of his recently-record-breaking contract. The "problem" with Williams' contract is although he was paid quite handsomely, and well over twice as much per season as his time in the nation's capitol, he already received much of the cash and all of the guaranteed money in his current deal.
This "problem" was no accident created by the 49ers' front office. The team was happily willing to pay Williams for as long as he was able to contribute on the field. They were confident enough to guarantee his pay for the years where it was reasonable to believe he could play at a high level. But they were less interested in guaranteeing top-dollar pay when it was unreasonable to expect top-dollar play.
This makes sense now, and it made sense to all parties–including Williams–when he signed on the dotted line. I'd be surprised if it didn't still make sense to Williams when the 49ers first learned of the bad news, or when he finally boarded his plane headed for San Jose to kick off "Year 15."
But none of that matters when it's clear that they believe they need you more than you need them–when you have leverage, and you're ruthless enough to use it.
Did Trent Williams' push Jed York over the edge?
We're all well aware of how this saga ended last season. Trent won. He received a new deal he'll never finish, and more guaranteed money. And Jed had to cut a $26 million check to a 36-year-old left tackle in September. Then the 49ers' season immediately began to unravel.
Do you think he wanted to? No. Was this preventable? Yes. But did he have to sign it anyway? Well, did he want to win the Super Bowl or not?
As Super Bowl hopes faded away in November, was resentment over the mistakes of those responsible the true tipping point? The dawn of the 49ers' "Ruthless" Age?
And although we know how the Trent contract saga ended, many questions remain unanswered. Why did the drama drag on into the opening week off the season? Why didn't they make a personnel move to limit Williams' leverage? Were they that scared of losing him?
And–unpopular but pragmatic–why didn't they simply flip the script and reclaim the leverage provided via the recent CBA? Particularly since "cash" has since become so artificially important, a worst-case scenario of the 49ers of recouping money, signing a tackle or starting the Kansas City Chiefs' current left tackle, and eventually arriving at a similar season outcome sounds extremely appealing when compared to the current state of the franchise.
Admittedly, I wasn't overly concerned about Trent Williams' holdout at the time. Practice isn't Williams' favorite activity, and aside from the conditioning aspect, is probably of limited necessity at this point in his career. Instead, I excepted a minor modification and a return to the practice field as late as sensibly possible. However, the flaw in my reasoning was the faulty assumption that the team must have a backup plan in place–a recently-retired tackle, a willing trade partner, or similar–for leverage purposes, and as a true "backup" replacement at the position if needed.
Clearly, I thought. Because how couldn't you? That would be irresponsible.
Whoops.
But let's waste no time and swiftly pivot from my naivety to present day–or by the time you're reading this, probably yesterday. For the 49ers, the reasoning for signing Jones is twofold:
49ers signed Mac Jones for two main reasons
You can dispel yourself of the notion that Shanahan wanted Mac Jones so the QB could compete with Brock Purdy for the San Francisco 49ers' starting quarterback job. Setting aside physical limitations, there's simply too much to fix in Jones' game, and not enough time between now and training camp to fix it. We'll run through some of his 2024 film tomorrow.
The 49ers' front office signed Mac Jones to be the Brock Purdy negotiation insurance Trent Williams never had. Although Jones is in no current state to compete with Purdy, he does provide the team with an option at quarterback with four seasons of experience, who was recently considered a first-round talent, and could potentially be "fixed" enough to be a viable option under center.
If you're not sold, I'm not either, but with better presentation, it could be enough to at least give Purdy's camp pause, and perhaps lessen their perceived control over the team's immediate future. And that's a whole lot better than the "absolutely nothing" the 49ers had to work with during their talks with Trent.
As Purdy's negotiations currently stand, and contrary to what an outspoken set of anti-Purdy talking heads have started parroting, the 49ers aren't in total control to simply end negotiations as they please, force Purdy to play out his fourth season, and then franchise tag him twice, all while saving a few million dollars in the process.
Within current CBA rules, theoretically, they could try. Unfortunately, even in a best-case scenario, the optics alone would cost the team exponentially more than any short-term financial gains. It's simply a non-starter, and too extensive a risk to take for such limited potential reward. However, the presence of Jones as an option for a rebuilding team that's not prepared to win in the near future, particularly if he shows significant progress compared to last season, could easily be worth the price of bringing the four-year pro into the fold.
The second reason the 49ers signed Jones is much simpler; As luck would have it, San Francisco needs a backup quarterback.
Shanahan's talents as a play-designer and play-caller are extensive, but near the top of that list is his propensity to regularly force his quarterbacks into dangerous situations which eventually result in injury. However, if his quarterback can manage to simply sustain minor injuries while avoiding serious injury, then Shanahan and his minorly injured quarterback are going to the Super Bowl–and then losing, of course, but we're working on that.
San Francisco's quarterback room is currently manned by Brock Purdy and practice squad QB Tanner Mordecai. Last season, backup quarterback Brandon Allen's lone start was a bottom-20 performance among all NFL QBs, while also essentially ended the 49ers' season, and the more viable backup Joshua Dobbs wasn't keen on returning to a team which tasked him with carrying a clipboard for Brandon Allen.
Meanwhile, Jones' NFL experience is comparable to Purdy's from a volume standpoint, but certainly not from a quality perspective. However, Jones had some success during his rookie season with offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Josh McDaniels, and the QB would clearly benefit from a retooling of his mechanics. As such, San Francisco would appear to be an ideal landing spot for Jones. And from a Shanahan infatuation perspective, while Mac Jones is no Kirk Cousins, he might be the next best thing.