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Nick Wagoner
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — After an early June organized team activity, new San Francisco 49ers quarterback Mac Jones walked to a podium in the bowels of Levi’s Stadium and answered questions for about 11 minutes.
As Jones patiently responded to queries about everything from how he was nearly picked by the Niners in the 2021 NFL draft to why he believes coach Kyle Shanahan can get his career back on track, something was clearly nagging him.
On the practice field moments earlier, Jones had struggled, throwing an interception directly to cornerback Derrick Canteen and missing a handful of open receivers, including an overthrow to rookie wideout Jordan Watkins on a deep ball.
Throughout his media session, Jones alluded to his misfires on multiple occasions, opening a window into the first thing that he and the 49ers must fix as he steps into the No. 2 quarterback role behind Brock Purdy: rebuilding his ability to trust what he sees and cut it loose.
“My goal is to really just have great attempts like, you know, is the ball supposed to go there?” Jones said. “And if it is, then let it fly and be committed to it. Sometimes when you watch my film, it wasn’t a full commitment throw and I want to get better at that. … That’s the whole point of football is to try those throws, learn from them, and then when you get to the game you can say, ‘Hey, I can do this,’ or ‘I’m going to check this one down, you know, I’m trying to protect the ball.’ So, I’ve learned the hard way in a way.”
Indeed, Jones has taken a far more circuitous route to the red and gold of the 49ers than many observers would have expected when he entered the NFL out of Alabama in 2021. At the time, the Niners sent a trio of first-round picks and more to the Miami Dolphins to move from No. 12 to No. 3 to select their franchise quarterback.
Although Jones was widely regarded as the likely choice for most of the run-up to that draft, the Niners ultimately selected North Dakota State’s Trey Lance. Jones tumbled to the New England Patriots with the 15th pick.
As it turned out, neither Lance nor Jones would be the long-term answer for the Niners or Patriots, respectively, and both teams quickly moved on to other options. Jones was shipped to Jacksonville after a promising rookie season (56.9 QBR) gave way to a pair of disappointing years in which he posted QBRs of 38.4 in 2022 and 37.5 in 2023.
That one-year stop with the Jaguars offered Jones seven starting opportunities, with Editor’s Picks
2 Related “To watch him go through those three weeks working on some technique things and just how we see football, I’m hoping it helps him and he enjoys it,” Shanahan said. Rough practice days aside, enjoying his new place of employment hasn’t been a problem for Jones to this point. He’s made it clear that he likes being coached hard and that he’s craved the challenge that Shanahan and his staff have put before him. Jones’ chance to learn the basics of Shanahan’s offense extends beyond the coaching staff. In another fateful twist, when he was a young player at Alabama, Jones once played host for a recruiting visit by a young quarterback named Purdy. The pair spent that night in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, hanging out and playing video games, and though Purdy ultimately opted for Iowa State, Jones has enjoyed watching Purdy grow into the quarterback who recently signed a five-year, $265 million contract extension with the 49ers. For Jones, Purdy offers a daily reminder of how developing in the right place with the right coaching staff can pay big dividends. Before signing with the Niners, Jones also noted the ascent of Best of NFL Nation
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Michael DiRocco
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Running back Travis Etienne Jr. knows this could be his last season with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is currently playing on the fifth-year option of his rookie contract for the franchise that drafted him 25th overall in 2021.
But putting any time into thinking about that would be a waste, he said. He’d rather focus on bouncing back from a disappointing 2024 and proving he’s capable of being a reliable playmaker again.
“I know I’m a great player. Everyone knows I’m a great player and it is just really just relying on your work,” Etienne said as the Jaguars wrapped up their three-day mandatory minicamp. “I feel like the work that I’m putting in this offseason is going to only propel me throughout the season no matter where I’m at. And I feel like for me, how I’m approaching it, if I do everything I can before the season, the season’s going to take care of itself.
After losing his rookie season to a Lisfranc injury, Etienne rushed for 2,133 yards and 16 touchdowns and caught 93 passes for 792 yards and one touchdown in 2022-23. Last season his production dipped significantly — 558 and two rushing touchdowns and 39 catches for 254 yards — as second-year player Tank Bigsby became the team’s top back (766 yards and seven TDs).
Part of Etienne’s decline could be attributed to the way he was used over the past two seasons in former head coach Doug Pederson’s offense. In 2022, 25.4% of his carries came outside the tackles and he averaged 8.3 yards per rush. Those numbers dipped in 2023 (23.2%, 3.7 yards per carry) and 2024 (21.3%, 3.0 yards per carry).
Etienne is at his best when he’s on the edge and in space, and he likes that new head coach Liam Coen’s offense seemed to put him in those spots a lot during the spring.
“He’s been getting me a lot in space,” Etienne said. “I love me one-on-one with anybody and just being able to make that first man miss and being able to get the extra yards. I feel like Liam has a great knack for getting the players the ball. It’s more so players than plays with Liam and he has a great feel for the game.”
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Coen liked what he saw from Etienne in the spring, especially his consistency.
“Every day, everything we have asked him to do he has done at a good click for us,” Coen said. “The ability in the screen game, to hand him jet sweeps, his vision so far in the run game’s been good. He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do and more.”
That’s a good sign because in addition to Bigsby, the Jaguars drafted two running backs:
Lawrence isn’t in danger of going anywhere: He signed a five-year, $275 million extension with $200 million guaranteed last June, but he has yet to play at a high level over a full season and has battled six separate injuries over the past two seasons, including two concussions in an 11-month span.
Making things more difficult is that he’s learning his third offense since the Jaguars drafted him first overall in 2021.
Lawrence has been chasing the success he had between a 17-game stretch from Week 9 in 2022 to Week 8 in 2023, when he completed 69% of his passes (second-best in that stretch to Justin Herbert’s 69.5%) for 4,208 yards and 24 touchdowns with six interceptions (third lowest among QBs who started 10 or more games). The Jaguars went 13-4 over that period.
That’s a pretty good stretch, but the expectations for the player once tabbed a generational prospect are higher, especially when it comes to touchdown passes and turnovers. Lawrence has not thrown more than 25 in a season (2022) and he leads the NFL in turnovers (68) since he entered the league despite playing seven fewer games than Josh Allen (67 turnovers), who is the only other player with 60-plus turnovers.
There is optimism that Coen will be the coach to finally get a big season out of Lawrence, especially after Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield threw a career-high 41 TD passes and a career-high 4,500 yards in 2024 in his lone season with Coen as his offensive coordinator.
Coen has completely reworked Lawrence’s footwork, which he said is vital to Lawrence being able to operate the offense effectively.
Harrison was a marginally better player in his second season (83.1% pass block win rate, 60th among tackles; 71.7% run block win rate, 51st among tackles) than he was as a rookie (80.2% pass block win rate, 67th among tackles; 69.4% run block win rate, 61st among tackles). But the Jaguars expected more growth out of the 27th overall pick in the 2023 draft.
He didn’t make big strides in the spring, either. He missed one of the OTAs open to the media because of an illness and when he was healthy and participating in the OTAs and minicamp open to the media he rotated with free-agent signee Chuma Edoga with the starters.
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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have signed coach Todd Bowles and general manager Jason Licht to multiyear contract extensions, it was announced Thursday.
“Jason and Todd’s leadership has been critical to our organization’s success. The winning culture they have established has us well positioned for the future,” Buccaneers owner/co-chairman Joel Glazer said in a statement. “The continuity and stability they provide will play a large role in our ability to compete for additional championships.”
The team didn’t provide terms, but sources told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler that Bowles’ deal is a three-year extension through the 2028 season.
Bowles, 61, enters his fourth season as the team’s head coach with a 27-24 record and having won three consecutive NFC South titles from 2022 to 2024. His 27 regular-season victories are the franchise’s second-best total through three seasons behind Bruce Arians, his predecessor.
“I am excited to continue working with Jason for years to come as we build on the success we’ve enjoyed and keep reaching for even bigger and better goals,” Bowles said in a statement. “… I also appreciate the confidence that the Glazer Family has shown in my abilities to lead this football team. It is a responsibility I do not take lightly and am honored to have.”
Licht is currently the NFL’s fifth-longest-tenured traditional general manager, entering his 12th season with the Bucs.
The Cleveland Browns released defensive end Ogbo Okoronkwo on Thursday.
The pass rusher had one year left on a three-year, $19 million contract he signed with the franchise in 2023.
After he was released, he expressed his thanks to the Browns and their fans with a post to X, writing, “Love to the Land!”
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Okoronkwo, 30, had 7.5 sacks, 54 tackles and a forced fumble in 30 games over two seasons for the Browns, making five starts.
The 2018 fifth-round pick of the Los Angeles Rams has 17 sacks in six seasons.
The Browns signed kicker Andre Szmyt in a corresponding move.