During ESPN’s Sunday morning coverage ahead of the Week 1 slate, Adam Schefter revealed an interesting story involving the Patriots, Jones and the San Francisco 49ers. According to a source, Schefter said, Niners coach Kyle Shanahan was concerned the Patriots were interested in Jones and that was part of the reason San Francisco made the bold move to jump from 12 to 3 in the first round.
The thought was San Francisco wanted to position itself ahead of New England to block Bill Belichick from taking Jones.
The problem with that theory is pretty simple: the Niners didn’t take Jones. Instead, Shanahan tabbed Trey Lance with the third overall pick, helping to allow Jones to be available at 15 where the Patriots stood. It’s hard to imagine a team deciding to make such a daring move (San Francisco surrendered a pair of first-round picks to swap from 12 to 3 with Miami) with the intention of keeping a player from another team, and then not taking that player.
Again, it makes little sense, unless there were elements at play that went unreported by Schefter. It’s possible that there was some truth to the Niners thinking – that Belichick liked Jones – but perhaps in reality the impetus behind Shanahan making the move was more related to Jimmy Garoppolo.
Trade rumors involving Garoppolo’s return to New England permeated the local football landscape all offseason, but the sides never consummated a deal. Is it possible that Shanahan wanted Belichick to think he would be taking Jones, thus offering a nudge toward getting a deal done for Garoppolo?
Various reports indicated Shanahan was steadfast in his desire to get fair market value for Garoppolo, and even though he clearly was ready to move on from the veteran he wasn’t willing to give him up for peanuts. Belichick and the Patriots likely were interested but not willing to meet the asking price. By moving up into prime position and ostensibly showing interest in Jones, the Niners may have been trying to persuade Belichick to take the deal for Garoppolo.
In the end the Niners move to 3 likely had very little to do with Jones and the Patriots despite Schefter’s claims, but it very well may have had the Patriots in mind.
