It’s obvious for fans to compare New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones to Tom Brady, given how Jones is the heir apparent to the franchise. However, when a fellow Hall of Famer says it, you tend to take more notice.
Green Bay Packers legend Brett Favre stopped by SiriusXM NFL Radio on Monday and offered up some very high praise of the Patriots’ rookie signal-caller.
“It’s premature to crown anyone, a team or player at this point in the season. But, I mean obviously, coach (Bill) Belichick and Josh McDaniels and the organization chose Mac Jones for a reason,” Favre said, via ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “The way he plays, being ready to play instantly and not making mistakes. Really, sort of a young carbon copy of Tom Brady.
“And it’s obviously way premature to say he is the next Tom Brady, but he plays a lot like him. He’s an intellectual player, is not going to beat you with his feet, but his mind and his arm and his pocket presence. He has all those tools. And the team, quite frankly, in all phases is playing exceptionally well and we know they’re well-coached. But a lot can happen between now and the end of the year.”
Jones has been receiving very high praise all season long as he’s performed well while quarterbacks drafted ahead of him like Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields have struggled. Jones has certainly benefitted from being in a much better situation than most of his peers, but he’s done well all the same.
He’s certainly got a very long way to go to truly be comparable to Brady, who has won seven Super Bowls, six with New England, but everyone has to start somewhere. Let’s see how Mac does in the playoffs, if the Patriots make it, before truly drawing comparisons to one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. In the meantime, the bar has been raised for Jones.