Quarterback Mac Jones stepped into the San Francisco 49ers lineup and threw three touchdown passes in a 26-21 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
San Francisco played without its No. 1 quarterback, Brock Purdy, who sustained shoulder and toe injuries in the season-opening 17-14 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.
“We had no concerns about Mac going into the game,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said of Jones’ San Francisco debut. “We were real confident in him.”
Shanahan said the 49ers had that confidence in Jones because of “just how he approaches every day. Every day, he’s on it. He never takes a day off as far as how he works on the practice field, how he is in the meetings. He’s always grinding, so he’s been ready since OTA 1, and never felt any different.”
Jones completed 26-of-39 passes for 279 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
“(Eleven-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle) Trent (Williams) came up to me and said, ‘You’re good, dude. Just go out there and hoop,’” Jones said. “And I was like, ‘I got you. I can go hoop.’ And once he said that I was like, ‘All right, let’s play ball.’ So that was kind of cool.”
Jones’ fifth NFL game with three touchdown passes was his first since Sept. 10, 2023, when the New England Patriots lost to the Philadelphia Eagles 25-20.
The former Alabama All-American began his third season as the Patriots’ starting quarterback with that game. But by the end of the 2023 campaign, Jones had been benched, and New England traded him to the Jacksonville Jaguars after the season.
After starting seven games for Jacksonville because of injuries to Trevor Lawrence in 2024, Jones signed in free agency in March with San Francisco to back up Purdy.
“I worked a lot on my mindset this offseason,” Jones said, “and, obviously, when you’re having your first start, you’re going to have a couple of nerves. But just working through those, once I finally got into a rhythm and I felt like the line did a great job blocking for me, and when they do that, I know I can sit in there and let it fly. Definitely, have things to clean up, but really proud of the guys, defense, special teams.
“I definitely had a plan coming in, and I’m going to learn from the mistakes I made and then fix them. And that’s all you can do. You got to start somewhere.”
FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OURNFL PAGE
With six-time Pro Bowl tight end George Kittle sidelined by a hamstring injury, tight end Luke Farrell caught his first touchdown pass in five NFL seasons on an 11-yard connection with Jones for Sunday’s first points with 3:25 left in the third quarter.
The 14-play, 80-yard scoring drive included a 15-yard completion from Jones to wide receiver Ricky Pearsall on third-and-14 and a 13-yard scramble by Jones.
With San Francisco leading 9-7, Jones moved the 49ers 77 yards in 67 seconds with nine passes, including a 7-yard touchdown toss to running back Christian McCaffrey with seven seconds left in the first half. Jones completed seven passes on the drive, with one of the incompletions a spike to stop the clock.
On a third-and-6 snap, Jones hit wide receiver Jauan Jennings for a 29-yard gain on the key play in the scoring drive.
Jones lost a fumble on the first series of the second half. But with the 49ers leading 19-14, Jones found Jennings down the field again for a 42-yard touchdown pass with 12:18 left to play.
“I thought Mac played real well,” Shanahan said. “We had a number of things we had to change up. It was a big deal losing (fullback Kyle Juszczyk) there early in the game, especially with Kittle out, just the stuff we had to do with other tight ends, so we were scrambling there for a little bit trying to figure some things out. I thought he handled the situation well. I thought he delivered the ball real well. Obviously, would have liked to have that fumble back. Hopefully, we can get rid of it a little earlier. It didn’t look like anyone was really open, though. I thought he did a hell of a job.”
The 49ers play the Arizona Cardinals at 3:25 p.m. CDT Sept. 21 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, in Week 3 of the NFL’s 2025 season.
“I think there’s a chance,” Shanahan said of Purdy’s availability for that game, “but we got to see how the toe goes. It’s very up to debate, so we’ll just take it a day at a time.”
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.