Mac Jones will start at quarterback for Jacksonville in the Jaguars’ season finale on Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts. After that, his football future is unknown.

“That’s always the million-dollar question for everybody,” Jones said on Wednesday. “You’re either under contract or you’re not. For me, it’s eliminating the distractions and taking it one day at a time, one play at a time, and it’ll take care of itself. I’ve had a lot of fun here.”

That doesn’t mean Jones wants to return to his hometown team for the 2025 season.

Jones is playing because Trevor Lawrence suffered a season-ending injury. Lawrence is working on a five-year, $275 million contract and will return to the starting lineup for Jacksonville next season.

Jones has arrived at the end of his rookie contract, a four-year $15.586 million deal signed after the New England Patriots selected him from Alabama at No. 15 in the 2021 NFL Draft.

“I know he would probably want that in his future – to take over a team again and be the guy,” Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said on Wednesday. “That’s what he was drafted to do. … Hopefully, he’s given an opportunity. See what happens over the course of, obviously, the next several months. But he’s done some good things, and I think if teams are evaluating the quarterback position, he’s definitely one that you would have to consider.”

After starting the first 43 games of his NFL career for the Patriots, Jones completed his third season with New England on the bench for the final six games. The Patriots traded Jones to Jacksonville in March.

Geno Smith with the Seattle Seahawks in 2022, Baker Mayfield with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2023 and Sam Darnold with the Minnesota Vikings in 2024 provide examples of former starting quarterbacks who were washed out, then returned to starting roles with other teams. But if Jones’ five-game finish for Jacksonville is an audition for his next chance as a starter, which teams is he auditioning for?

Even though 11 of the NFL’s 32 teams have at least 10 losses entering the final weekend of the regular season, there may be only around six teams looking to change starting quarterbacks this offseason.

“The chips will fall how they fall,” Jones said. “I have confidence in myself.”

Jones didn’t appear a candidate for another starting opportunity in his first relief appearance for Lawrence this season. In a 12-7 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Nov. 10 and a 52-6 loss to the Detroit Lions on Nov. 17, Jones completed 31-of-51 passes for 249 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions.

But Jones threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes after Lawrence left a 23-20 loss to the Houston Texans on Dec. 1, and he has completed 94-of-138 passes for 935 yards with five touchdowns and four interceptions in the four games since.

Jones said he “challenged” himself to play better after Jacksonville’s open date, when the Jaguars had six games remaining on their schedule.

“What I’ve done is, after the bye week, really put my best foot forward and play better football,” Jones said. “And we’ve been really good on third down and done some things really well on offense, so, hopefully, we can build on that. And I’m going to continue to do that this week in practice.”

Jacksonville has won four games this season – two with Jones at quarterback — and the Jaguars can complete a season sweep of the Colts on Sunday. In their previous game, Jacksonville completed a season sweep of another AFC South rival by beating the Tennessee Titans 20-13, with Jones completing 15-of-22 passes for 174 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also ran for four first downs.

“I thought Mac played, obviously, one of his better games today,” Pederson said after the contest. “I thought he did a great job of just putting the ball in play and taking what the defense gave him. Some really good scrambles early in the game to keep us on the field, helped us in our third-down conversion rate today. The touchdown pass to Brian Thomas and just doing things that we ask him to do — great performance by Mac, and he’s one of many guys that had a hand in this win, but he played really well today.”

The Jaguars and Colts kick off a noon CST Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

“It’s been fun,” Jones said of his first NFL season in his hometown. “I’ve really enjoyed it. And I’m looking forward to finishing this strong with another win.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.