Trade talk around San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback Mac Jones picked up this week after starting quarterbacks on two other teams went down in Week 2.
The Washington Commanders lost Jayden Daniels to a dislocated left elbow in Sunday’s loss at Dallas. Daniels is out this week against Seattle and could miss multiple games while he consults specialists.
The New York Giants took a steeper hit. Second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart is expected to undergo knee surgery that will end his regular season after damage to his MCL, PCL and meniscus. His ACL is intact, but the timeline still points to a long absence.
Jameis Winston replaced Dart on Monday night and completed 11 of 27 passes for 111 yards with one interception. He posted a 37.7 passer rating and was sacked twice.
Those results put veteran backups back in the conversation. Jones, 28, is the clear No. 2 in San Francisco behind Brock Purdy and has already shown he can keep a playoff-caliber roster afloat.
Jones started eight games last season after Purdy’s turf-toe injury. He went 5-3, completed 201 of 289 passes (69.6 percent) for 2,151 yards, 13 touchdowns and six interceptions, and finished with a 97.4 passer rating.
The 49ers signed him to a two-year deal in March 2025. A later revision added a $300,000 roster bonus, putting his 2026 base near $3.55 million with more available in incentives. He is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent after this season.
NBC Sports Bay Area reporter Matt Maiocco said he does not see a strong market for Jones right now. Teams facing one injury may not want to surrender a Day 2 draft pick for a quarterback they would only control for part of a season.
“I think if there’s multiple injuries with one team, then maybe Mac Jones comes into play,” Maiocco said. “But also at that point, if you’re a team that has had multiple injuries to your quarterback position, does it make sense then to trade for a guy, give up draft capital, and know that you’re only renting him for half the season?”
Maiocco added that he is skeptical any club would view Jones as the piece that pushes it over the top. That calculus, he said, makes a deal that satisfies the 49ers unlikely in the near term.
Niners reporter Grant Cohn has been more direct: San Francisco should not move Jones this year. Purdy has missed time in each of his five NFL seasons, and Jones is the proven insurance policy.
The 49ers are 2-0. Purdy has opened the year healthy and productive, but last season’s eight missed games remain the relevant data point for the front office.
The NFL trade deadline is Nov. 10. That still leaves several weeks for a desperate team to raise its offer. Earlier reporting put San Francisco’s asking price above a second-round pick, a figure no club met in the offseason.
Jones could still return in 2027. Maiocco said he has not ruled that out, because he is not convinced another team will guarantee Jones a starting job in free agency even if it pays him more than the 49ers might.
San Francisco also has third-stringer Kurtis Rourke on the roster. Cohn argued that one strong preseason half is not enough to trust Rourke for four to six weeks if Purdy suffers another high-ankle sprain.
For now, Jones remains the highest-rated backup option on a contending roster. The 49ers have little incentive to create a new problem at quarterback in order to solve someone else’s.
Whether that stance holds through November will depend on how many more starters go down and how high a bidder is willing to go.
