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Will the 49ers Trade Mac Jones to the New Orleans Saints?

Maybe the Saints want to actually compete this year. Maybe they don't want to waste every veteran's time. Maybe they'd be interested in Mac Jones.
Grant Cohn|
Jan 5, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Mac Jones (10) throws a pass to warm up before the game against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images
Jan 5, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Mac Jones (10) throws a pass to warm up before the game against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

Just last week, offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak said the 49ers still see Mac Jones as a starting NFL quarterback.

Well, the 49ers don't currently need a starting quarterback -- they still have Brock Purdy -- but the Saints certainly need one. Their starter, Derek Carr, just retired out of the blue. Which means the top quarterback on their depth chart is rookie second-round pick Tyler Shough. So it stands to reason that the Saints might want a veteran just in case.

The Saints also have Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener, but neither one is an experienced veteran quarterback. They're young as well.

The Saints could decide to roll with their young quarterbacks and tank. Next year's draft is supposed to be loaded with quarterbacks. Maybe the Saints will take one of them.

But maybe the Saints want to actually compete this year. Maybe they don't want to waste every veteran's time. Maybe they'd be interested in Mac Jones.

The 49ers signed Jones this offseason to a two-year deal. Clearly, they want a quality backup behind Brock Purdy if he were to get injured again. Last season, he got injured twice and missed two games.

But if the 49ers could trade Jones for a mid-round, that would be found money. Then, they could make Tanner Mordecai or Kurtis Rourke the backup quarterback. The 49ers just drafted Rourke a couple weeks ago. He's currently recovering from a torn ACL, but he should be ready at some point next season.

I don't anticipate the 49ers trading Jones, but I wouldn't rule it out, either.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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