Tom Brady Would Lead Patriots to Better 2023 Season Than Mac Jones, per Former NFL HC

The New England Patriots enter the 2023 campaign with Mac Jones in the driver's seat at quarterback.

However, one former NFL head coach believes the Patriots would be better off with a 46-year-old Tom Brady, who is retired, under center this season.

"If I was in New England and I had to choose between Brady and Mac Jones, I'd take Brady, and they would have a better season with Brady," the coach said, via The Athletic's Mike Sando.

The Patriots selected Jones with the No. 15 pick in the 2021 draft, and he went on to have an impressive rookie season, completing 67.6 percent of his passes for 3,801 yards and 22 touchdowns against 13 interceptions in 17 games.

The Alabama product led New England to a 10-7 finish and a postseason berth, making his expectations for the 2022 campaign quite high.

However, it's fair to say Jones and the Patriots flopped in 2022.

Jones, who missed three games with an ankle injury, completed 65.2 percent of his passes for 2,997 yards and 14 touchdowns against 11 interceptions in 14 games. He led the Patriots to a 6-8 record and New England finished 8-9, missing the postseason for the second time in three seasons.

Much of the team's offensive struggles were blamed on Matt Patricia and Joe Judge, who were jointly in charge of leading the offense after head coach Bill Belichick failed to hire a replacement for former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who is head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.

Jones now enters 2023 with the expectation that he will improve upon his disappointing 2022 season, and the Patriots offense as a whole should be far better under new offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien.

While there's little doubt that Brady, who won six of his seven Super Bowls with the Patriots, would be an upgrade over Jones under center, the heavy criticism of Jones might be a little unfair at this point in his career given the instability in the New England offense in 2022.

Jones will get every opportunity to prove himself this season, and a better assessment of his talent can be made after year three.