The New England Patriots are eligible to start their offseason program on April 17. Until then – and maybe afterward, too — the NFL team’s fans are left to wonder if quarterback Mac Jones really will be in an open competition for his job or even if the former Alabama All-American will be on the team when the 2023 NFL season kicks off.

That’s thanks to recent interviews and reports that suggest or insinuate displeasure with Jones on the part of New England coach Bill Belichick and a Tuesday post that says the Patriots have used the quarterback as trade bait.

MORE NFL:

· DOLPHINS COACH ON TUA TAGOVAILOA: ‘WE’RE SITTING ON A GOLD MINE’

· JETS LIKE PRODUCTION OF THEIR ALABAMA PREP TACKLERS

· CARL LAWSON WILL BE ON THE JETS ‘AS LONG AS HE CAN WALK’

Last week at the NFL’s annual meeting, Belichick said, “Everybody’ll get a chance to play. We’ll play the best players,” when asked if Jones had a firm hold on the quarterback job or would compete with backup Bailey Zappe for the starting spot.

Not exactly “Mac’s done a great job,” as Belichick said when the Patriots opened training camp in preparation for the 2022 NFL season, but still maybe just coachspeak at a media appearance.

After playing for Alabama’s undefeated CFP national championship team in 2020, Jones joined New England as the 15th choice in the 2021 NFL Draft. The Patriots went to the playoffs and Jones went to the Pro Bowl in his first season.

But neither the team nor Jones built on the promising start. In 2022, New England finished out of the playoffs, and Jones missed three games with an ankle injury and lost eight points off his passer rating compared to his rookie showing.

New England dropped from sixth in the NFL in scoring in 2021 to 17th in 2022 without Josh McDaniels. After his 13th season as the Patriots’ offensive coordinator, McDaniels left to become the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders last offseason.

Belichick put Jones in the hands of Matt Patricia, New England’s former defensive coordinator, and Joe Judge, New England’s former special-teams coordinator. Both were back with the Patriots after being fired from jobs as NFL head coaches.

Judge worked as quarterbacks coach. Patricia was senior football advisor and offensive-line coach, but he called the plays for the New England offense in 2022, too.

The Patriots’ offensive regression spilled out in sideline outbursts by Jones as the season wore on.

Robert Kraft, the team’s owner, said the setup was an experiment that failed.

“I think we experimented with some things last year that frankly didn’t work when it came to him, in my opinion,” Kraft said last week about Jones’ 2022 performance. “I think we’ve made changes that I think put him in a good position to excel.”

The 2022 offensive setup has been replaced for 2023 by Bill O’Brien. Belichick hired the Alabama offensive coordinator of the past two seasons to handle the same responsibility for the Patriots.

But on Friday, Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston said during an appearance on “Jones and Mego” on WEEI-AM on Friday that Belichick and Jones need to “bury the hatchet” over the 2022 season.

“I will say one thing that’s interesting to watch play out,” Curran said, “… is just what’s left over from Bill being agitated at Mac for, more than anything else – the yelling and the gesticulation during the games was irritating enough – but Chris Simms (of “PFT Live”) alluded to this, and I heard it reaffirmed today, going outside the building for counsel as to: Is this the way we’re supposed to be doing this? That really pissed Bill off. And as we know, a betrayal of Bill – disloyalty, I think in Bill’s mind — is almost worse than bad play.

“And Mac, even though you could say it’s ironic – the guy’s trying to get better and he’s wondering, ‘Are we supposed to be doing it this way?’ and asking people around football about it – that effort to improve was showing up the Matt Patricia-Joe Judge contingent that Bill put in charge, and when Bill caught wind of it, he’s still pissed about it. So … how well are they going to be able to bury the hatchet on Mac’s perceived and presumed disloyalty in doing that and does Bill O’Brien rectify that or is Bill still itching to teach the kid a lesson?”

On the heels of that, NBCsports.com’s “Pro Football Talk” reported the Patriots had talked to teams about trading Jones, specifically the Las Vegas Raiders, Houston Texans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Washington Commanders.

The Raiders did get a former New England quarterback on Tuesday, but it was Brian Hoyer, who signed as a free agent.

Hoyer has spent eight of his 14 NFL seasons with the Patriots. As Jones’ backup last season, Hoyer started the first game that Jones missed with his ankle injury in October. Hoyer sustained a concussion in the game and did not play in remainder of the season.

That put Zappe, a fourth-round rookie, on the field for two starts and the majority of four games. New England won both games started by Zappe, and he posted a passer rating 16 points higher than Jones.

The Patriots released Hoyer in March, even though he had another season and $1.4 million in guaranteed money left on his two-year contract.

“Brian Hoyer was not sold on what was going on last year,” Curran said. “I think he let that be known that Mac was up against it on a weekly basis, and I think that’s a large portion of why Hoyer’s not here. The Patriots will tell you otherwise, but they’re paying him $1.4 million to not play here and not be part of the system.”

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

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