Former Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski shares opinion on Mac Jones trade rumors

In an appearance on FanDuel TV's "Up & Adams," Gronkowski described the rumor as "fake news," explaining that the front office already made a significant change by signing Bill O'Brien as offensive coordinator and swapping QBs during the same offseason would cause too much upheaval.

"If Mac Jones doesn't put it together this year with Billy O'Brien I could see that being a possibility after the season," Gronkowski added.

It makes sense for the Patriots to see what Jones can do with O'Brien as his offensive coordinator after Belichick's failed 2022 experiment when Matt Patricia and Joe Judge -- two coaches with minimal offensive coaching experience -- were tasked with leading the offense.

The results were as bad as anyone could have expected and Jones' regressed after a promising rookie season. 

He went 10-7 as a rookie while leading the Patriots to the playoffs and was 352-of-521 (67.6 percent) for 3,801 yards, 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

His completion percentage and touchdown percentage were worse in his second year, as were his average passing yards per game, yards per attempt and passer rating.

Unless New England is considering a move for Lamar Jackson -- which it has previously denied -- there's no good reason to part with Jones this offseason. He's entering his third year in the NFL and second with an offensive coordinator.

Pro Football Talk reported on Tuesday that Patriots owner Robert Kraft remains a supporter of Jones and saw a lot of the same things everyone else saw when it comes to New England's offensive dysfunction in 2022.

"I'm a big fan of Mac," Kraft said. "I think we experimented with some things last year that frankly didn't work when it came to him, in my opinion."