Albert Breer on why Jack Jones is still on the Patriots

Albert Breer of The MMQB joined Zolak & Bertrand on Thursday. Breer shared his thoughts on the Jack Jones plea deal, after the Patriots cornerback had gun charges against him dropped following an incident at Logan Airport in June. Here were Bert's main takeaways from the fallout:

"I can say this for a fact, like there are lots of programs, NFL and college that have three or four no tolerance rules for players. Don't put your hand on a woman. You're not to bring a gun into this facility. You are not to get in trouble with guns. And it's zero tolerance. You're gone. So a lot of these guys have had these rules drilled into their head since they were eighteen years old. And I would think that this would have to be one of those places based on what they've been through there. You would think that this would be one of those places where it is zero tolerance with guns.  I would think like ownership would want to come out and say something here and say like, 'we don't have tolerance for this sort of thing and we're working through this with Jack Jones and there will be consequences internally.'

"And here's the other part of it, and I don't think we can ignore this. If this was a player who had a clean record and nothing had ever happened with him and he got caught with some guns at the airport. I don't think we'd be talking about this this way. Like we call the guys stupid. You're dumb for doing that, right? But if the guy had a clean record and like the guy had generally been a good guy, I think we'd all be pretty understanding."

"Here's the here's the other problem with this. If this is the 60th guy in the roster in June. He is cut. I think that's an inarguable point. He is cut. His NFL career is probably over because nobody else is touching him at that point either. By cutting that guy, you'd actually be doing more damage to that guy than you would be doing to Jack Jones, because Jack Jones, his talent dictates that he would probably get a shot somewhere else. So there's a sliding scale here still. And I think that that's something that this only highlights. There's a sliding scale and your talent affords you opportunity. Your talent affords you second chances."

New England Patriots cornerback, Jack Jones, was arrested over the weekend at Logan Airport for having two loaded handguns in his bag while trying to get through security. While discussing situation on Monday on Felger and Mazz the guys got a surprise call from Defense Attorney, Ben Urbelis, who helped clarify some questions they had on situation.

Felger: "What kind of trouble is he in?"

Ben Urbelis: "Essentially, you guys are correct. The mandatory minimum is on a couple of the charges, but the most serious being the large capacity feeding device. That is basically any magazine, especially when it's loaded. But any magazine, if you carry it without a license or a license to carry, which apparently he didn't have either, outside of your home or business and you get convicted it's a mandatory minimum of two and a half years to ten years which means that you can't get probation or parole until you've served at least two and a half years of state prison."

Felger: "Is there a path for the prosecutor not to prosecute? Can he just not prosecute if he doesn't want to?"

Ben Urbelis: "Well, the prosecutor always has discretion to not prosecute a crime. That's not going to happen in this case. No way. First of all, I've been doing this for 15 years defending people with firearms offenses. They take these cases very seriously and there's a reason that the legislature has mandatory minimums here in Massachusetts. We all know how society looks at illegal gun possession in Massachusetts, but specifically in Suffolk County where he's being prosecuted, that's a that's a very hot topic right now in Boston. When a case is high profile like this, the last thing that they're going to do is show the show any favoritism to somebody who's a celebrity."

Felger: "How do you think this ends up? Is there a plea? Is there a middle path for him?"

Ben Urbelis: "It's possible. I don't see any way that he gets a plea where he's not doing time though."

Felger: "So you think that's pretty much a done deal? He's doing time."

Ben Urbelis: "Well, unless his lawyer beats the case. But I'm just saying that I don't think there's going to be any sort of plea to happen, which would require the D.A. to reduce the charges because what he's charged right now, if he pled guilty, a judge can't even give him anything less than two and a half years. So it would have to be the district attorney's decision to reduce the charges, to give him any sort of plea. And then I don't see them doing that unless there's at least some committed time on the table."

Listen to Felger and Mazz from 2-6 every Monday-Friday on 98.5 The Sports Hub, with hosts Mike Felger, Tony “Mazz” Massarotti, and Jim Murray “Big Jim”. You can listen live in the Sports Hub App and subscribe to their podcasts here. Follow @FelgerAndMazz on Twitter to keep up with the show!