The San Francisco 49ers have an ideal starting quarterback situation in early June.
Brock Purdy has proven himself worthy of the top spot moving forward, allowing San Francisco to build their offense around the gutsy and experienced former seventh-round pick.
The 49ers also have one of the better backups in the league, as Mac Jones was reliable for the 49ers last year when Purdy missed several games with a toe injury.
That said, ESPN’s Dan Graziano isn’t 100% positive that Jones will spend the entire 2026-27 campaign with the 49ers, as he’s under the impression that the Cincinnati Bengals, Los Angeles Chargers, or Minnesota Vikings could soon swing a trade for the former New England Patriots signal-caller.
“You can see why teams would be interested, but the 49ers have told anyone who has asked this offseason that they value him and aren't trading him,” Graziano wrote Thursday. “In order for Jones to be moved, a contender would need a significant enough injury at the quarterback position to convince them to overpay the Niners to let him go.”
“If something happened to, say, Justin Herbert with the Chargers or to Joe Burrow in Cincinnati, or if none of the Vikings' options work out, those are all examples of places where Jones could conceivably step right in and help their Kyle Shanahan-inspired offenses. There's no way to know when or whether those types of teams would have that type of need.”
To Graziano’s point, losing Herbert for a significant period would put the Chargers in a serious bind, as Trey Lance doesn’t offer much stability as a backup QB. Considering Jones kept the 49ers afloat when forced to step into action last, who’s to say he couldn’t say he couldn’t do it with the Chargers in an emergency?
Likewise, although Joe Flacco has been a serviceable backup quarterback for the past few seasons, bringing in Jones would give Cincinnati a younger, slightly more mobile No. 2 signal-caller who was more accurate than Flacco last season (Flacco: 60.3% completion percentage; Jones: 69.6%).
Regarding the Vikings, there’s a good chance J.J. McCarthy and Kyler Murray don’t get the job done early on, which could motivate the NFC North franchise to pursue Jones on the QB trade market.
Needless to say, Jones is an asset that many franchises will likely keep close tabs on during the 2026-27 campaign.
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