SFGate writer Drew Magary is apparently not a fan of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Mac Jones.
In the wake of the news that Jones will start for the 49ers for at least the next two weeks due to a toe injury to starting QB Brock Purdy, Magary thinks the 49ers season is over, and they have no hope of making the playoffs.
“It’s my sworn duty to tell you that you’re completely screwed,” Magary wrote. “You have no hope. Any pass that Lil Mac completes past the line of scrimmage will be a miracle. Every win that he ekes out against an underwhelming opponent won’t feel like a win at all. And every loss will be excruciating to watch, even more so than the wins.”
It’s a wild, shocking article full of expletives and even insults to Jones’s appearance.
“That is not the face of a winner. That is the face of a boy who’s far too old to be working a lemonade stand,” Magary wrote about yes, literally, Jones’s face. As if his appearance is any reason why he can’t quarterback the 49ers to winning football.
Jones did have his share of struggles while he was a member of the New England Patriots and Jacksonville Jaguars. But Magary’s article is less about Jones’s supposed football shortcomings and more about unnecessary personal attacks against Jones.
https://x.com/PatsBuzz/status/1465021777004875778
The reason why Magary is just so against Jones is unclear, but it’s a completely unnecessarily negative piece that disparages Jones and the 49ers fanbase.
It is worth noting that Magary isn’t even a 49ers fan, he’s a Minnesota Vikings fan. He admits that openly in his article.
In Defense Of Mac Jones
In the wake of Magary’s seemingly personal hate towards Mac Jones, someone has to come to his defense. That person will be me.
https://x.com/NBCS49ers/status/1966253541057769592
Remember, in his rookie season, Mac Jones made the Pro Bowl and led the Patriots to the playoffs. That seems like a lifetime ago, but it happened.
That year, Jones had 3,801 passing yards and 22 touchdowns against 13 interceptions, and the Patriots locked up the No. 6 seed, the same seed the Niners had that year.
He finished second in the offensive rookie of the year voting. His infamous griddy may have officially killed the Pro Bowl, but we won’t hold it against him.
Since then, Jones’s record isn’t pretty. He’s 10-22 in 32 starts. He also has 32 touchdowns against 31 interceptions.
But remember, Jones was on the Patriots and the Jaguars. He didn’t exactly have a ton of talent around him.
That is an issue Jones will face again on Sunday. He’s going to be playing without Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle.
But he will have two familiar faces to throw to in Kendrick Bourne and Luke Farrell, the ultimate safety blanket that is Christian McCaffrey, and (hopefully) Jauan Jennings.
The 49ers defense also looked elite again in Week 1 under Robert Saleh. Brock Purdy didn’t exactly need to throw four touchdowns and no interceptions in Week 1 to win. So let’s take our hand off the panic button, just for a second.
Jones was a first round draft NFL pick for crying out loud. He got picked there for a reason, if not several. He’s still a better quarterback than like 98% of people who have ever walked the earth. Let him have at least one game under his belt before we jump to such hateful conclusions.
Grant Cohn has the market cornered on hating the 49ers for entertainment, anyway.
Magary’s Shanahan Take, and Why It’s Wrong
Magary also disparaged Kyle Shanahan pretty severely in his column.
“Kyle Shanahan is the best coach in the business,” Magary wrote, sarcastically. “That’s only true if you don’t factor in Shanny’s just above .500 career record, his lack of Super Bowl victories, his unyielding determination to get his own players hurt, and the fact that he never met a 10-point lead he wasn’t eager to squander. So these are not good arguments in the face of reality.”
There’s one issue with Magary’s argument, which is that if there is one thing Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers offense has consistently recently done it is take quarterbacks that the rest of the league has given up on, and put them in position to succeed.
From Purdy himself to Jimmy Garoppolo to even, briefly, Sam Darnold, Shanahan has completely changed the trajectory of quarterbacks that the rest of the league overlooked.
Insiders have been really impressed with what Mac Jones has brought to the 49ers so far in training camp and practice.
https://x.com/Graham_SFN/status/1966148701971427820
So the 49ers season is certainly not over. And Magary should probably take his defeatist attitude back to the Vikings fanbase he is apparently a member of.
