Trevor Lawrence vs Mac Jones (or Brock Purdy): Wednesday QB Battle

The 49ers will be facing some uncertainty at QB when they face the Jaguars on Sunday. Brock Purdy is working his way back from injury and probably wouldn't be in the mix to start this week if Mac Jones hadn't reaggravated a nagging PCL injury. I'm guessing Mac Jones will be good to go but it wouldn't shock me if they try and get Purdy up to speed this week just in case. The other option as of right now would be Adrian Martinez if neither of those guys can go and he has yet to start a regular season game in his career. Since I'm not sure which guy will get the nod I'll include Mac and Purdy in this blog. Jaguars fans should be very familiar with Mac Jones who filled in for an injured Trevor Lawrence the second half of the Jaguars schedule. He went 2-5 as a starter with his only wins coming against the Titans who finished as the worst team in football last year. Here's the stats for the 3 QBs so far:

2025 QB Stats Through Week 3

Trevor Lawrence 2-1 record

Passing Yds	Pass TDs	INTs	Completion %	Rushing Yds	Rushing TDs
671	4	4	55.8	25	0

Mac Jones 2-0 record

Passing Yds	Pass TDs	INTs	Completion %	Rushing Yds	Rushing TDs
563	4	1	66.3	5	0

Brock Purdy 1-0 record

Pass Yds	Pass TDs	INTs	Completion %	Rushing Yds	Rushing TDs
277	2	2	74.3	17	0

I'm not sure I can remember a QBs stats not matching how a guy's played quite like Lawrence through the first 3 weeks of a season. If you're simply looking at the stats he's been a bottom 5 QB and you probably aren't sure why the Jaguars keep starting him. However, if you watched the last two games for the Jaguars you'd know exactly why his stats look like that and you'd probably lay more than 5% of the blame on him. The Jags lead the league in illegal shift penalties and drops through 3 weeks and by a wide margin in both. Luckily the Jaguars defense has played like a top 5 unit and the team is 2-1 despite much success in the pass game. I'm not telling you Lawrence has played perfect by any means. He still makes a couple bad decisions a game but if the Jaguars could simply clean up some of the mess around him in the passing game the numbers will drastically improve. There's two examples that come flying into my brain from last Sunday against the Texans. The first one the Jaguars have 3rd and 14 on their own 27 yard line with a little over 3 minutes left in the quarter. Lawrence throws a beautiful layered ball into a hole in the Texans zone coverage to Brian Thomas Jr for what should be a nice 20 yard pickup for the duo. Instead Dyami Brown starts his motion 0.1 seconds too early for the refs liking and the Jaguars lose 5 yards on another illegal shift penalty. The next play Lawrence is sacked after holding the ball too long on 3rd and 19. That's about a 40 yard swing all because Dyami Brown moved a little too early on his motion. The next is the two plays that happen before Lawrence's INT in the 4th quarter. On first down Lawrence is trying to hit Parker Washington on a crosser about 12 yards downfield and Washington drops it. The ball was a bit behind Washington but Lawrence was trying to stop him from running into the defender so it was the right throw. 2nd down is a swing pass to Ettiene that looks like it's a bit too far ahead of him but should be caught. If Lawrence puts the ball on Ettiene its going to be a backward pass if Ettiene drops it. The next play is a Lawrence INT on a bad read and throw into double coverage. Instead of picking up a first down and continuing either drive Lawrence gets credited with a sack and an INT. Both on plays that really shouldn't have taken place at all. The Jaguars receivers need to clean things up and Lawrence has to continue to get better at taking care of the football when he ends up in bad situations.

Mac Jones has probably been closer to the opposite through the 2 weeks that he's filled in for Purdy. Jones stats would indicate that he's played elite football for two weeks, and while he's been playing good ball, his tape looks very similar to how he played in Jacksonville last year just in a better system. Mac Jones does two things very well and an NFL QB: feed number 1 receivers and throw the ball with accuracy and anticipation in the middle of the field. The 49ers have 2nd and 1 with about 8 minutes left in the 2nd quarter against the Cardinals. Pearsall runs a deep in route, somehow beating the inside leverage of the corner, and Jones not only connects on the throw, but actually throws Pearsall away from the coverage and into a spot that only his guy can make a play. He has about 5-6 of these deep in routes or slants where the ball is placed perfectly over the middle of the field. The issue that has constantly plagued Jones is his lack of NFL caliber arm strength on throws to the sideline. This time the 49ers have the ball 1st and 10 with 36 seconds left in the half. Pearsall runs a comeback route to the sideline but the ball is so late getting there that the corner has time to make a play. Mac Jones can continue to look very good in this offense if the 49ers can keep scheming up plays that provide open windows in the middle of the field and avoid situations where he has to laser a ball to the outside.

The main difference between Brock Purdy and Mac Jones (besides arm strength) is what happens when a play goes off script. Purdy has a much better feel for what to do when he's flushed from the pocket or has to make a play with his feet. He has sort of a Baker Mayfield type of athleticism where he doesn't blow you away but always seems to have just enough wiggle to escape most situations. It's part of the reason he makes top tier QB money and Mac Jones is on a backup deal. Week 1 against the Seahawks Purdy has 2nd and goal all the way back at the 14 yard line. He gets pressure from the edge but is able to turn what's probably a sack or throw away if Mac Jones is in the game into a 10 yard gain. This sets up a much more manageable 3rd and goal where the 49ers are able to score on an easy pitch and catch on a Kittle out route. Both guys have a great feel for the offense and have great ball placement on throws over the middle. Purdy just adds the element of being able to create more.

We'll dig more into how these offenses and defenses match up and who has the advantage during the Friday Game Preview but that should give you guys a good feel on how these QBs are operating 3 weeks into the season. Stay tuned sports fans!