A list of Mac Jones’ 2025 accomplishments might go something like this:

• Finishing 5-3 as the San Francisco 49ers’ starting quarterback.

• Connecting on 69.6 percent of his passes, the best mark of his career.

• Beating the Los Angeles Rams in overtime, a game in which Jones battled both a knee injury and cramping so severe that he vomited on the sideline.

• Lining up next to Trent Williams and the 49ers’ Bumpboxx to lead teammates out of the tunnel for road games.

The last one is no trivial matter. In fact, you could say the image of Jones gyrating and gesturing alongside Williams, the 49ers’ old head and resident badass, perfectly symbolized a season in which the funny, fun-loving quarterback got his groove back.

“Now he’s the happiest guy around,” said the quarterback’s longtime throwing coach, Joe Dickinson. “He’s the happiest guy in America.”

That groove was lost somewhere in the gloom of Foxboro, Mass. Things had started well after the New England Patriots drafted Jones at No. 15 in 2021. He started all 17 games that season, finished with a 92.5 passer rating, made the Pro Bowl as an alternate and was runner-up for Offensive Rookie of the Year behind Cincinnati Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase.

But before Jones’ second season, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels left to become head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. His replacement? Matt Patricia, who’d previously spent 12 years in New England as either a defensive position coach or a defensive coordinator. In addition, the Patriots installed Joe Judge, who had spent 2012-19 as the Patriots’ special teams coach, as Jones’ new quarterbacks coach.

It was an odd and unsuccessful arrangement. Jones, known as “The Joker” at Alabama for his frequent, high-pitched laugh and goofy demeanor, found himself in a no-mirth zone. Head coach Bill Belichick, who famously has the warmth of a rattlesnake even when his team is winning, was on the downslope of his career in New England, and Jones fell out of favor. His performance, then confidence, began to sag.

Dickinson, who’s worked with Jones since the quarterback was 11, said he saw the effects on his pupil after his second season.

“He had a different look on his face, a different tone in his voice,” Dickinson said. “You could just tell that Bill was a terrible fit for him.”

In 2024, the Patriots traded Jones to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the following offseason, he became a free agent for the first time. He had other suitors but wanted to play for the 49ers and Kyle Shanahan, who’d shown strong interest in him before the 2021 draft. In fact, Jones was so intent on trying to resurrect his career under Shanahan that he signed a two-year deal worth $7 million with only $4.75 million fully guaranteed.

“It was what was presented to me,” he said in November when asked about the contract. “I wanted to get back to having fun playing football, and I think I’ve done that.”

That two-year deal promises to make things interesting when team officials meet in Indianapolis for the annual NFL Scouting Combine next week. The 49ers have stated that they don’t intend to trade Jones, who, after all, proved extremely valuable in 2025 and has a cap cost of only $3.1 million in 2026.

“You always listen to people with trade offers,” Shanahan said last month. “We’re also not into getting rid of good players, so I’d be very surprised if Mac wasn’t around us next year.”

Still, circumstances are aligning to create an offer that might be hard to refuse.

The first is that Jones didn’t just look like a starter in 2025 but someone who could lead an imperfect team, which is what any potential suitor would be. The win at the Rams — on a short week and in prime time — came at the height of the 49ers’ injury woes. They played without George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk, Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings, and with Jones battling through a PCL injury.

The second reason to trade for Jones is that the league just watched another Shanahan reclamation project, Sam Darnold, thrive on the national stage. Darnold, who signed a one-year deal with San Francisco in 2023, served as Brock Purdy’s backup that season. The following season, he led the Minnesota Vikings, who run a similar offensive system, to a 14-win season. In 2025, he signed with the Seattle Seahawks and last week stood before the city with the Lombardi Trophy in his right hand, a beer can in his left and a wide grin on his face.

Third, it’s not a great year to draft a quarterback. Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza is expected to go No. 1 to the Raiders. Who’s the next best passer? In his Top 100 list, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler has Alabama’s Ty Simpson as the draft’s 34th-best prospect.

Finally, more teams are running Shanahan’s offense or something similar than ever before. The Miami Dolphins hired a former Shanahan assistant, Bobby Slowik, to run their offense. The Arizona Cardinals brought in another, Mike LaFleur, as head coach. Both teams are considering new quarterbacks this offseason. The Vikings could also be interested after parting ways with Darnold and watching youngster J.J. McCarthy throw 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 10 games in 2025.

Asked about his future, Jones has said all the right things. He’s never had the same play caller for two consecutive seasons and would be happy to continue to learn under Shanahan and his staff.

“I really got a Ph.D. in football this year, and I want to keep getting better,” he said.

But he also feels the version of himself who led the Patriots to a 10-7 record five years ago has returned. The high-pitched laugh is back, and so is Jones’ confidence. After all, you can’t help but feel good about yourself when Williams invites you to the front of the Bumpboxx line.

“I feel like they helped me get my swag back,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s up to you to keep your swag, right? But to have Trent and everybody just backing me every day since OTAs when I first got here?

“I feel like people had their — I don’t know — opinions about me, or some people didn’t know me or hadn’t played with me before. And I just showed who I am. And I think they enjoyed playing with me. I enjoyed playing with them, and that’s all you can ask.”