Colin Cowherd’s Vague Mac Jones Rumors are Clickbait

This past week, New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones had more to deal with than allegations of being a dirty football player. Jones also had to deal with a story that there were more unspecified stories out there about him. These supposed stories apparently paint Mac Jones in a negative light, but what they are is being kept a secret.

If all of that is tough for people to follow, welcome to the club. Any confusion on the subject can be attributed to talk show host Colin Cowherd.

On Thursday, the host of The Herd insinuated that there was some sort of bombshell out there about Mac Jones. However, it was one Cowherd was opting to not share at this time.

“We’re hearing some stuff about Mac Jones. And J. Mack (Jason McIntyre) and I are not gonna talk about it on the air because, eh, we don’t want to, yet,” said Cowherd. “We’re hearing things that aren’t…you (McIntyre) just eluded to it…we’re not going to get into the specifics. We’re just hearing stuff that isn’t great.”

If there is a legitimate news story out there about Mac Jones, one would assume that Colin Cowherd and Jason McIntyre would be willing and eager to share it. Why wouldn’t they want to be the ones to break a big sports story? The fact that Cowherd decided not to share specifics of whatever he claims to know should be telling in itself.

Colin Cowherd has been around sports media for quite some time. He has had a national audience since originally joining ESPN in 2003. Since 2015 he has been on with FS1 and has started his own podcast company, The Volume. This is all to say, Colin Cowherd knows exactly what he is doing, even if he is doing something remarkably dishonorable.

To float out a rumor that there are some known stories about Mac Jones is incredibly unfair to Mac Jones. Obviously people are going to speculate about what the real story is. And, as is human nature in today’s sports talk environment, people will assume the worst. Some speculation centered around Jones not being liked by his New England Patriots teammates. Fellow captain Ja’Whuan Bentley squashed that rumor on The Greg Hill Show.

"We all love 10 and we riding behind him"
Patriot's linebacker Ja'Whaun Bentley joins the show to discuss the himself and the team backing Mac Jones. pic.twitter.com/JnhuOfsNWl

— The Greg Hill Show (@TheGregHillShow) September 29, 2023

If there really is “stuff that isn’t great” out there regarding Mac Jones, certainly it’s fair to share it. But for  Colin Cowherd or any other broadcaster to just float out such rumors, knowing the impact it will have, is completely unprofessional and uncalled for. So why would Cowherd do something like this? Unfortunately, for clicks and and attention.

At some point a large segment of sports talk shows decided that no news is actually bad news. As a result, there become a 24-hour news cycle with hot takes, rumors and unnecessary inuendo. Informed analysis and true news took a back seat. These lazy efforts to cover sports continue to happen because they continue to work. They do not work in informing the audience about what is going on, but that is not the goal of Colin Cowherd and his cohorts.

Would Patriots Football Now be talking about Colin Cowherd if he hadn’t floated a Mac Jones rumor? Of course not. So, sadly, his behavior is even “rewarded” here.

Is it possible that some unflattering news about Mac Jones exists? Of course. The same is true for nearly everyone, NFL player or not. But if Colin Cowherd truly does have news about the New England Patriots quarterback and wants to keep any semblance of credibility, it would be in his best interests to share it. Otherwise this is nothing more than a clickbait attention-grab by somebody willing to smear another man’s reputation for ratings.