Rob Gronkowski thinks that Mac Jones should force the issue.
As the Patriots’ season has sputtered and the team is 2-8, Bill Belichick has been declining to commit to Jones as the team’s starter going forward after benching him during last week’s loss to the Colts.
Appearing on FanDuel TV’s “Up & Adams” on Wednesday, Gronkowski, who played for Belichick in New England for nine seasons, laid out the cards.
“He’s not respected in New England,” Gronkowski said of Jones.
“Coach Belichick has played all these games with him. Bailey Zappe isn’t even close to being on Mac Jones’ level.
“You should never, ever sit Mac Jones. You tried it once, you tried it twice, it’s not working. Now he’s doing it again. He won’t name the starting quarterback. [Jones] is not respected there.”
Therefore, Gronkowski said, Jones should seek greener pastures.
“I think Mac Jones should ultimately, even right now, go ask for his release,” he continued.
“If you’re talking to me about what he should do — ask for his release. And then if it’s granted, he should go start for the Cleveland Browns. They need a quarterback.”
Gronkowski was also in disagreement with the notion that Belichick is on the hot seat in New England.
While Belichick has won six Super Bowls with the Patriots, conventional wisdom has turned to the idea that this seems like his final season in Foxboro.
Tuesday, for example, ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky told Pat McAfee that he has “heard” that Belichick already knows where he will be coaching next season, and that it will not be in New England.
However, Gronkowski believed that Belichick is “grandfather claused” in, and compared him to Gregg Popovich, who had down years with the Spurs after Tim Duncan retired but is now back in the saddle after the team selected generational talent Victor Wembanyama first overall in this year’s draft.