The Denver Broncos are riding the quarterback carousel again as they are expected to release Russell Wilson with a post-June 1st designation. There’s much speculation from fans and analysts on which signal-callers Denver will acquire.

They could plausibly take exciting options in the draft with their twelfth overall selection, like Bo Nix and JJ McCarthy, or even trade up for a Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels. On the free-agent side, there are less sexy options that would come in to serve as a bridge to whatever quarterback they may draft. A few noteworthy names are Sam Darnold, Jacoby Brissett, and Mitchell Trubisky, who could be solid stop-gap guys.

One signal caller who isn’t getting much love is former first-round pick Mac Jones of the New England Patriots. The 33rd Team pinned the Broncos as a potential landing spot for the young quarterback should he be traded this off-season. Here’s their analysis:

“The Denver Broncos could be interested in Jones. Part of coach Sean Payton’s apparent frustrations with Russell Wilson is that he couldn’t handle as much pre-snap and in the full dropback game as Payton is used to with his quarterbacks. Jones has his limitations, too, but it’s hard not to see the world where Payton gets out of Jones what he got out of Teddy Bridgewater a while back.”

Mac Jones hasn’t had an ideal situation in New England with the lack of weapons and suffering through Matt Patricia as his offensive coordinator, resulting in a career nosedive. While the talent around Jones wouldn’t be much better in Denver, especially if they decide to trade one or both of Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy, he’ll undoubtedly have a great play-caller in his corner: Sean Payton.

Payton squeezed the post-Drew Brees lemons in Teddy Bridgewater and Jameis Winston into lemonade. He could feasibly have similar success with a quarterback like Jones.

Bridgewater started five games for an injured Drew Brees in 2019 and, under Payton’s tutelage, went 5-0 with a 9-2 touchdown to interception ratio. The five-game stretch led to Teddy securing a 3-year 63 million dollar deal with the Carolina Panthers. Jameis Winston is known for his erratic style of play, which leads to ungodly turnovers. Under Sean, however, Winston settled down and, in ten starts, went 6-4 with an 18-8 touchdown to interception ratio.

Mac Jones had a solid rookie campaign, throwing for 3,804 yards, twenty-two touchdowns, and thirteen interceptions. However, in his next two seasons, Jones lost his offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, and wideout Jakobi Meyers to the Las Vegas Raiders.

Although McDaniels is an atrocious head coach, he had been a reliable play-caller in New England, and his departure, followed by the hiring of Matt Patricia to replace him, tanked Mac Jones’s development. In his sophomore season, Jones’s number one target was receiver Jakobi Meyers, who caught sixty-seven passes for 809 yards and six touchdowns. Once Meyers left in free agency, Mac didn’t have a reliable pass catcher on the roster. No receiver outside of DeMario Douglas cracked five hundred yards.

If you thought the lack of skill players buried Denver, New England was hitting bedrock. Mac Jones’s receiver with the most receptions was not a wideout or tight end, but running back Ezekiel Elliott. Bill O’Brien was an upgrade over Matt Patricia, but he still could not save the offense.

Bill Belichick also had a hand in stunting the growth of his young quarterback. This year, Jones was pulled from games in favor of Bailey Zappe several times. The Patriots would ping pong, which signal called started each week with no guarantees that they would finish out the games. Bill was as non-committal to his quarterbacks as a high school relationship, leading to Jones’s inconsistent play.

Sean Payton can elevate whomever he has playing under center. Denver could easily snag Mac Jones for a fifth to sixth-round pick, and he would be a solid fit in Payton’s system. He would be an upgrade before the snap and could work the middle of the field better than Russell Wilson under Sean and his staff. Mac Jones absolutely makes sense as an option for the orange and blue.