Mac Might Be 2008 Cassel But 2008 Cassel Wasn't Far From 2001 Brady Statistically.

It's pretty safe to say most people are comparing Mac Jones to Tom Brady's 2001 season and that people underestimated his ceiling. The rookie is doing pretty well at matching what we saw from the sophomore season of Tom Brady but Aryanna Prasad thinks that people are comparing Mac Jones's rookie season to wrong quarterback and believes we should be comparing him to Matt Cassel's 2008 season.

Prasad said people need to look at stats and situations the two quarterbacks walked into. She acknowledged that Cassel's offense was more high powered but says they were both Belichick teams built for a good quarterback to operate.

Prasad wrote, "If the 16-game projection isn’t convincing enough, looking at the first 11 games of the season reveals that Cassel and Jones stood shoulder to shoulder stat-wise through these weeks.

• Matt Cassel, through 11 games in 2008: 238-359, 2,615 yards, 13 TDs, 8 INTs
• Mac Jones through 11 games in 2021: 245-349, 2,540 yards, 14 TDs, 8 INTs"

Cassel led the Patriots to an 11-5 record. That wasn't bad but it wasn't Brady like, or was it? Nobody ever compared 2008 Cassel to 2001 Brady. Cassel just missed the playoffs. Mac Jones is currently sitting 7-4 far better than anyone expected the Patriots to be at this moment. 

Prasad wrote, "With two games against the Bills and a Titans matchup, it’s unlikely the Patriots escape 2021 with just one more loss. A 17th game and a weakened AFC still allows the Pats to pave a path to the playoffs."

So Jones and the Patriots would have to continue to beat expectations to finish 5 and 1 to close the season. The Patriots have been playing better each week but there have also been signs that the team still has room for improvement. So finishing with just five losses is improbable but not impossible.

Now I am sure that there are people who are upset at the idea that anyone would compare Mac Jones to Matt Cassel but is it really that big of an insult? Look at what Cassel accomplished.

The first thing one needs to consider is Matt Cassel was a seventh round draft pick from 2005. Seventh rounders are not supposed to be more than career backups at best when it comes to most positions. It's part of what makes Brady's story so awe inspiring.

Matt Cassel was named a pro bowl selection in 2010. He would also start a playoff game, although he would lose. No small feat for a seventh round quarterback. While playing in 107 games, he would start 81 of times.

Over his career Cassel was put in a position to have 9 fourth quarter comebacks and 12 game winning drives.

Besides Kansas City and New England, Cassel played for some bad teams. Yet he still managed to put up a 7-12 record for the other five garbage teams that were playing for draft spots instead of wins.

From 2008 to 2017, Cassel would start a minimum of 2 games a season. As a starter Cassel would have a 36-45 career record. With two 10 win seasons. Cassel would throw 102 touchdowns to only 82 interceptions.

Cassel completed 58.8 of his 2683 attempts for 17,508 yards. Over his 14 year career, he was sacked 210 times. He would also rush for 5 touchdowns. 

Cassel was either an over achiever or he was drafted three rounds too late. Mac Jones is a first round quarterback and his stats should be better than Cassel's. Let's take a look at the pro football reference to see some per game stats.

Cassel attempted 25.1 attempts per game to Mac Jones's 31.7. 

Cassel completed 14.7 passes a game, Jones is completing 22.3. 

Cassel averaged 163.6 yards per game, Jones is averaging 230.9

Cassel averaged 1 touchdown and .8 interceptions a game. Jones is averaging 1.3 touchdowns and .7 interceptions. 

Cassel averaged 2 sacks a game and 10.8 yards per pass. Jones is also averaging 2 sacks a game and 16.6 yards per pass. Cassel averaged 9.6 rushing yards a game on 2.5 carries, Jones is averaging 5.5 yards on 2.3 carries. 

While Jones is more accurate, he's also throwing the ball more. Which gives more chances to inflate his stats to look better than Cassel's. Cassel played well enough for the Chiefs to want him to start, and people are second guessing whether teams made the right decision on not drafting Mac.

So I would say based off Cassel's career, it's a fair comparison to say that Mac is at least as good as Matt Cassel but Mac is still on pace to be as good as Brady's 2001 season, in some areas he already is.

In 2001 Brady averaged:

189.5 yards passing per game

17.6 completions per game for a 63.9% completion percentage 

1.8 touchdowns a game, .8 interceptions a game

2.7 sacks a game with 10.8 yards per completion

Brady also averaged 2.9 yards rushing on 2.4 carries a game.

Brady also had 3 fourth quarter comebacks (mac has 1).

I would say Brady's floor when he came into the league was Matt Cassel and Mac Jones appears to have the same floor. Mac Jones has a chance to statistically put up better numbers than what Brady had his sophomore season. And although improbable, it's not impossible for Mac to lead the Patriots to the superbowl this season.

While Mac Jones probably will never come close to winning half as many superbowls as Brady, he's looking like his career stats could come close to Brady's as long as he continues to improve. So while it's true his stats do resemble Cassel's, the eye test resembles 2001 Brady. And fans should be excited for the potential that Mac Jones has.

There maybe only one Brady and that's okay because all we need is Mac to continue to play his game and improve. We don't need a second Tom Brady but we wouldn't mind if he came close. And I don't think anyone in Patriots nation would disagree with that.