Did Mac Jones and the New England Patriots offense peak too early?

The New England Patriots selecting Mac Jones with the 15th overall pick — as the fifth quarterback off the board — appears to be one of the 2021 NFL Draft‘s best values.

Click here for more PFF tools:

Rankings & Projections | WR/CB Matchup Chart | NFL & NCAA Betting Dashboards | NFL Player Props Tool | NFL & NCAA Power Rankings
Best Bets Tool

Jones’ 78.9 PFF grade through 16 weeks ranks 13th among 32 qualifying quarterbacks. Justin Fields leads all other rookies at the position with a 64.2 PFF grade that ranks just 25th among qualifiers.

Despite that early success, there are reasons for concern in New England that Jones and the offense may have peaked too early.

Weeks	Jones PFF grade	Rank at QB
Weeks 1-11	86.9	4th/32
Weeks 12-16	52.9	28th/32

This is a small sample that was made even smaller by the conditions that led to Jones’ three-attempt outing against the Buffalo Bills in Week 13, but it does highlight a concerning decline in play, particularly following consecutive losses to potential playoff opponents.

Granted, New England’s offense hasn’t had any soft matchups over that five-week stretch.