Mac Jones has seen his fair share of struggles in the NFL.

The former Alabama, current New England Patriots quarterback has now spent 2 seasons in the league, starting 31 games for one of the best football franchises in history. He’s not explosive or game-changing, but he’s also not quite at the “give up hope” level for New England.

Jumping from Nick Saban to Bill Belichick is quite the move, too. Neither coach is known for their soft and fuzzy demeanor, though both are known for winning. But according to a report from Jeff Howe of The Athletic, shared by NFL writer Dov Kleiman, Jones is being coached in an “atypical” way by Belichick.

According to the report, Belichick instructed coaches to not be too hard on Jones last season, something not typical with how he approached coaching Tom Brady.

Special Treatment?

Let’s get right out in front of this and say it: it’s real tough to compare Mac Jones and Tom Brady.

They’re different people and different quarterbacks with a vast amount of experience and expertise inbetween them. It’s also a different time period for Belichick and the Patriots. He has new strategies for helping his team win compared to having the greatest QB of all time on the roster in the 2000s and so on. Is this slightly out of character for Belichick? Sure.

But he knows the game of football pretty well, we’d say.