It’s quite obvious these past few weeks that New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick wants to replace quarterback Mac Jones.

Rumors have circulated that the legendary coach shopped Jones around this off-season. Belichick even went so far as to say that Jones’ position wasn’t guaranteed.

Jones took a step back last season after he led the team to the Playoffs. Mainly because Belichick refused to hire a new offensive coordinator after long-time OC Josh McDaniels became head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.

Now there are reports that Patriots players are upset with Belichick trying to trade the young QB.

Boston NBC Sports reporter Phil Perry said players aren’t pleased with the current situation.

“I’ve spoken to players who are not happy that this is in the news, that the Patriots and their potential interest in trading Mac Jones is out there in the public sphere,” Perry said, via NBC Sports Boston. “They aren’t happy on Mac’s behalf; they aren’t happy, period, on their own behalf. They’re not happy that 2022 is bleeding into 2023.”

The issue between Jones and Belichick seems to come from when Jones decided to receive outside counseling about his frustrations with the offense, which Belichick apparently took offense to.

But according to Perry, folks inside the Patriots organization think that Belichick is overreacting to all of this.

“Folks in the building understand he was in an adverse situation, and that is putting it gently,” Perry added. “It’s really difficult to hold it against him that he tried to fix it on his own. This is how people view this: Mac Jones felt as though he had exhausted all options available to him in the building, so he went out and pursued improvement elsewhere. And he might be punished because of that? He might be traded because of that? That’s him writing his own ticket out of town? There’s an absurdity to all of this that is not lost on Patriots employees.”

Or players for that matter. Belichick tampering with the offense instead of turning it over to a new offensive coordinator last season may have cost them a playoff spot in the toughest division in football and that wasn’t all Mac Jones’ fault.

{Phil Perry}

About Stacey Mickles

Stacey is a 1995 graduate of the University of Alabama who has previously worked for other publications such as Sportskeeda and Saturday Down South.