Yes, that's his real name.
Michael McCorkle Jones. Call him Mac.
And yes, it's Week 2 of the 2025 NFL regular season, and the San Francisco 49ers are turning the reins over to Jones to try and save their season.
QB Brock Purdy is out for multiple weeks with a toe injury. George Kittle, the star tight end, is on Injured Reserve and has to miss a minimum of four games.
It feels a lot like last season, when an early Christian McCaffrey injury barrage led to a season that never got going and ended 6-11.
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The 49ers are 1-0 right now, having dispatched the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. And they get the lowly New Orleans Saints next.
But now it's all up to Jones. Sure, games are won and lost beyond the quarterback position. But there's a reason nobody in the NFL is paid more than QBs. They're the origin of outcomes.
It's hard to know what to expect with Jones, really. He was so polished as a rookie with the New England Patriots, who made him the No. 15 pick out of Alabama in 2021. He went 10-7 and made the Pro Bowl.
He hasn't had a winning record in a season since, although the situations have been less than ideal. The Bill Belichick regime was crumbling in New England, and then a season in Jacksonville pressed into sudden duty after backing up Trevor Lawrence, can things really go well with the Jaguars?
There's been some suggestion in the past (although not so much lately) that Purdy himself is just a system QB who benefits from Shanahan's offense and the players around him.
If that's true, and that's a big if, maybe that means Jones can thrive here, too.
He's an accurate passer, at just about 66 percent for his career, which should allow him to get the ball on time to the right places when Shanahan schemes players open.
The schedule is forgiving, too. The Saints are rebuilding. The Cardinals always underachieve. And then the Jaguars are who they are, and it's a Jones revenge game, too.
If Purdy can be back by Week 5 for a divisional matchup with the Rams, that'd probably be ideal. And if Jones can get two wins out of the next three, he'll have done what a good backup should do, keep his team in the hunt.
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