PALM BEACH, Fla. — Four years ago, the 49ers made the bold move to trade up nine spots to No. 3 overall with the intention of selecting a quarterback.
The player the 49ers initially had in mind was Mac Jones, who threw 41 touchdown passes with four interceptions in his only full season as Alabama’s starter.
However, in the weeks before the 2021 NFL Draft, the 49ers settled on North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance instead of Jones.
“I think he knows what happened,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said of Jones at the NFL Annual Meeting.
“I talked to him a little bit after the draft four years ago. I’ve had a small relationship with him since then.”
Jones ended up lasting until the 15th pick, when the New England Patriots selected him. He started all 17 games as a rookie and was selected to the AFC Pro Bowl team.
But things soured with the Patriots, and he was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars last year. He appeared in 10 games with seven starts as Trevor Lawrence’s backup.
And, now, he comes to the 49ers on a two-year, $9 million contract to serve as the No. 2 quarterback behind Brock Purdy.
“It’s kind of funny to put in all that time before the draft and four years later having him on our team,” Shanahan said. “We’re excited about, and excited to get to work with him.”
The 49ers put a plan in place in 2021 to move on from Jimmy Garoppolo and keep the nucleus of the team together with a quarterback on a rookie contract.
Lance did not work out, but the 49ers found their starter the next year when they grabbed Purdy with the final pick in the draft. The 49ers ended up trading Lance to the Dallas Cowboys for a fourth-round pick. Lance remains unsigned as a free agent.
Through most of the pre-draft process, the 49ers strongly considered Jones and appeared to be leaning toward taking him with the No. 3 pick.
“I loved how he played the position, especially in college,” Shanahan said of Jones. “He got the ball to the right spots, didn’t take sacks, would hang in there and get hit and distribute the ball to his playmakers.
“I’ve seen him do it in the NFL at a high level. And we’re excited to get him working in our offense.”
Jones’ best NFL season came as a rookie with Josh McDaniel as his offensive coordinator. When McDaniel left to become Raiders head coach, New England made the curious decision to slide former defensive coordinator Matt Patricia into the role of offensive play-caller. Jones’ production suffered.
Jones started 49 games in his first four NFL seasons. He completed 65.9 percent of his passes for 10,590 yards with 54 touchdowns and 44 interceptions. His passer rating is 84.9.
Shanahan said Jones understands the role of the backup quarterback from being in that situation with Jacksonville last season.
“His mindset is just being the best quarterback he can be,” Shanahan said. “When you come in as a backup, you can’t always do that on Sunday. You got to be ready every week just in case. You don’t know when a guy will get hurt.
“I think he has a chance to improve every day. From what I hear about him as a worker, I think he will.”
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