49ers GM gets honest about potential Mac Jones trade

While the San Francisco 49ers will almost certainly be looking for pass-rushing help once NFL free agency begins in a couple of weeks, there is also the matter of what they will do with backup quarterback Mac Jones.

When starting QB Brock Purdy missed eight games this past season with a toe injury, Jones filled in and played excellent football while leading the 49ers to a 5-3 record. He has effectively resurrected his young career after many were calling him a bust following a couple of weak seasons.

Jones is now a desired commodity across the league, and people are wondering if San Francisco is open to trading him, especially after recent reports have indicated the team wants to keep him for 2026. General manager John Lynch reiterated that the Niners want to keep him and that it would take a “fairly strong” offer for them to even consider moving him, per Nick Wagoner of ESPN.

“He’s really good for us and we value that. And so somebody would have to come with something fairly strong for us to consider (trading him). And then I don’t know what we do. Obviously there’s always something that would make you (do it), but I think we’re a better team with him on it and we just like having him around.”

Coming out of the University of Alabama, where he won two College Football Playoff National Championship games, as well as a slew of individual awards during his senior year, Jones was the No. 15 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots. As a rookie, he made the Pro Bowl and led the rebuilding Patriots to the playoffs, which led plenty of people to tab him as the true heir apparent to Tom Brady, who had left New England following the 2019 campaign.

But his production fell afterward, and his solid rookie year started to look like fool’s gold.

However, as a member of the 49ers in 2025, Jones threw for 2,151 yards and 13 touchdowns while completing 69.6% of his passing attempts. In fact, he played so well during Purdy’s absence that there was talk of a quarterback controversy, and some pundits asserted that Jones, and not Purdy, should’ve been starting under center once Purdy was cleared to return.

Of course, that’s not exactly what happened. Purdy played very good football after he returned, and despite a slew of injuries to key players, he led San Francisco past the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in the wild card round of the playoffs.

On one hand, trading Jones for the right package could be the type of move that would enable San Francisco to replenish its aging core, especially given how weak the quarterback market will be this offseason in terms of free agency, trades and the draft. But if the team doesn’t have someone it trusts to replace him at QB2, it may make sense to hold on to him, especially given the number of injuries quarterbacks have suffered in recent years.

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