The San Francisco 49ers have a pretty valuable trade chip on their hands in quarterback Mac Jones. His value may go up even more considering the 2026 NFL Draft class for quarterbacks is not all that impressive.
Some mock drafts only have a couple of quarterbacks going in the first round of the 2026draft while others are a bit more bullish on the quarterback class. Still, there are no consensus quarterbacks out there, especially not as the overall No. 1 pick the way guys like Peyton Manning or Andrew Luck were.
Given that, we may see teams be a bit more patient in drafting quarterbacks, namely since every single year we see quarterbacks drafted very high in the draft who do not end up panning out. The Tennessee Titans' Cam Ward is just the latest example of this, but maybe teams will finally grow wise to the fact that drafting a shiny new quarterback is not going to fix all of the problems.
Instead, maybe teams are going to follow a different model of quarterback success that has seen increased attention in recent years.
With the emergence of veteran quarterbacks like Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold as very effective starters, perhaps teams are going to look more toward former top draft talents who were misused on their original teams but eventually found a situation that is more amenable to them.
Jones is a perfect example of this model of quarterback.
He was drafted by the New England Patriots in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft and had a solid rookie season but flamed out just a few years later. He served as a backup in Jacksonville and eventually landed with the Niners as a backup to Brock Purdy.
He absolutely saved the team with his solid play while Purdy was out with the toe injury. Jones played well enough that some analysts believed there was a genuine quarterback controversy in San Francisco, and his play has led to a lot of speculation the 49ers could trade him this offseason since he is under contract for next season.
Jones could make sense with a lot of different teams, and there may be no shortage of suitors given what he has showed everyone with his play in 2025.
Couple that with a relatively weak quarterback class in 2026, and the 49ers may be able to get a decent return for Jones if they do decide to trade him.