New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones has found himself in some hot water after appearing to hit New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner in the private area during the Patriots’ win over the Jets this past Sunday.
While Jones is not expected to be suspended by the league, this is just the latest incident in what has become a career full of questionable behavior from the third-year signal-caller.
Some may feel that it is a bit presumptuous to label Jones a dirty player, but Joe Rivera of The Sporting News put together a timeline of Jones’ borderline incidents from his first three NFL seasons, and after examining the string of occurrences, it’s becoming harder and harder to construct a defense for Jones.
Former Patriots star defensive back Devin McCourty is not ready to place that label on Jones just yet, but he also thinks that the youngster needs to be careful.
“I won’t call Mac a dirty player because I know him personally and I think he’s a good dude, a good kid,” McCourty said on the Greg Hill Show on WEEI radio in Boston (via Sean Deveney of Heavy.com). “But I will say he has to stop being around these incidents. It won’t matter what any former teammate says, current teammate says—like it’s getting to the point where, is it on purpose, did this happen, is it intentional? It’s not gonna matter because once you’re involved in too many of these situations, it is what it is.”
Jones has denied that he intentionally hit Gardner, but Gardner clearly felt otherwise, as he shoved Jones afterward and then took to social media to post a clearer video of the exchange which occurred during a scuffle between both teams.
“We can’t come back and say, ‘No, this is what he was meant to do.’ Because there’s a lot of players that play this game and they’re not involved in any of these things,” added McCourty. “So he does need to do a better job of finding his way out of whatever it is you want to call it.”
Mac Jones has thrown for 748 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions this season.
The Patriots are 1-2 and will take on the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
