Chad Pennington was made of glass. That was the only knock I ever had on his game. When healthy, the guy could pick apart any defense because he put in the work and could read them. There has been comparison of Mac Jones to Pennington and as long as Jones can stay healthy, I don't think any Patriots fan has room to complain about that.
Pennington spoke recently with Tom Curran of NBC sports, probably because the folks at Dear Patriots Nation were booked, and Colts Law were covering the Indy express. Pennington discussed a few things including the comparison of the Patriots young quarterback. Here's what he had to say.
As for how important is it for a quarterback to sit and learn? Pennington said, “It was everything for my career. We don’t put enough emphasis on a young quarterback just learning how to be a professional. And a lot of that has nothing to do with the scheme and what’s happening between the white lines. It’s just learning how to take care of business across the board in every aspect of your life. We’re coming from college where all we do is train, go to school and play ball. That’s it.
Now we step into a world where we've got to worry about finances, we've got to worry about writing checks, we've got to worry about all these different things and – oh yeah – play professional football. There is certainly some time that needs to be (devoted) to what your routine is, what your daily schedule is, your organization to your life so that you can be successful on the field.”
Pennington spoke about how important it is for a young quarterback entering the league to be properly developed, saying, “I do understand what’s happening in our league. Our league is much younger now. Our younger players are asked to play and be more productive at an earlier part in their career. I understand that. But from a quarterback perspective, I think that three-year process is really important. And even though Sam (Sam Darnold) was given three years, was the right structure of the organization and the right players around him to be successful? That’s really the question to ask.
Even with a guy like Mac Jones, what are the organizations doing to develop that? Obviously, you saw that great talent in the player. So now it’s up to you to bring that out. You can’t just place it all on the player.”
So what does Pennington think about Jones being compared to him? Pennington says, “I can see where people can see some comparisons. He’s a very accurate quarterback. He’s certainly that prototypical accurate passer that I think the Patriots have always liked to have in their system. And when it comes to mobility, we are very similar. He ran a 4.8 (40-yard dash). I ran a 4.8 coming out of college.”
The Dolphins liked that 4.8 enough that Pennington was the initial wildcat quarterback for the Miami Dolohins. Had Pennington been more durable, the formation might still be in heavy use today.
So what are Pennington's final thoughts on Mac Jones? Pennington said, “I say, ideally – and this is just Chad Pennington talking – if I put my general manager or head coach hat on, ideally I would love to see Mac Jones take a Patrick Mahomes route where Patrick Mahomes is able to learn from a great veteran in Alex Smith. He was able to make mistakes behind closed doors and didn’t have to answer to why he made those mistakes.
He’s young. He’s gonna make those mistakes. And then those keys can be handed to him down the road. Is that one year? Is that two years? Don’t know. But ideally speaking that’s what you’d be looking for.”
Pennington basically drilled home timing and proper development. Making sure that Jones was ready to play before throwing him in there. Everyone knows about Gino Carmazzi and Josh Rosen, and how they played before they should've. Everyone saw what lack of developmental time did for Jarrett Stidham in 2020, missing the normal offseason. Pennington basically says the best thing for the Patriots to do, is to avoid falling into traps teams set for themselves if they want Jones to succeed.
Check out the rest of Pennington's interview here: https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/patriots/chad-pennington-has-unique-perspectives-mac-jones-cam-newton
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