FOXBORO — It was an inauspicious start to training camp for Patriots quarterback Mac Jones on Wednesday morning.
On his first competitive throw of the summer, he dropped back in a red-zone drill, briefly turned his body to the right where running back Rhamondre Stevenson was running a swing route, directed his attention back to the middle of the field and tried to loft a pass to tight end Mike Gesicki in the back of the end zone.
And he was picked off by safety Kyle Dugger.
It can only go up from here for Jones after throwing an interception in his first 7-on-7 rep of summer, and it did on Wednesday. Jones finished 4-of-7 in 11-on-11 drills against a ball-hawking secondary and 5-of-10 with the interception overall in team drills. Backup quarterbacks Bailey Zappe and Trace McSorely each completed less than half of their passing attempts. It was tough sledding against a Patriots’ defense that brought back nearly every single impact player from the 2022 season and added first-round pick Christian Gonzalez at cornerback.
After a 2022 season that saw the QB’s performance decline from his productive 2021 rookie campaign, Jones has his sights set on the future. He’s looking forward, not back, and that includes in his relationship with head coach Bill Belichick.
“No, I think we’re good,” Jones said when asked how he would characterize his relationship with Belichick. “I think the biggest thing that we’ve all talked about is just having a fresh start. I think there’s a lot of learning experiences from last year that we’ve talked about. And this year, it’s all about just working together, right?
“You’ve gotta come up with a plan and then obviously talk about it and then execute it. So I’m excited for that part of it. Really for me just trying to be consistent, try not to ride the wave and just stay my course, and hopefully everybody on our offense feels that too. I think Coach (offensive coordinator Bill) O’Brien does a great job laying out what we do well so far, and we’re going to learn every day what we do well and from there you just keep moving forward and execute the plan. Definitely excited for that.”
Belichick was hovering around the offense during Wednesday’s red-zone team drills. Jones repeated a message he delivered during spring practices that he mostly learns about defenses from Belichick.
He did soften the message a bit, however. In June, Jones said Belichick is “really good with the defensive side of the ball … that’s what he really does really, really well.” Prior to becoming a head coach, Belichick primarily did work on the defensive side of the ball. He hasn’t been a position coach on offense since 1977.
“Yeah, I think he’s done a great job,” Jones said of Belichick on Wednesday. “I think at the end of the day, he does a great job explaining defenses and all of those things that can help a quarterback and especially in the red zone because it’s a little bit tighter down there.
“I think (O’Brien) does a great job, as well, just explaining everything and (assistant quarterbacks coach) Evan (Rothstein), so it’s kind of those three guys that you can lean on and obviously the players too. You can ask the players questions, and I think it’s great that our defense is really good. It makes it harder. It’ll be a great camp, because we’re going to go back and forth hopefully and just battle with each other.”
The Patriots did not have an offensive coordinator last season, instead leaning on Belichick, offensive line coach Matt Patricia and quarterbacks coach Joe Judge to run the offense. Patricia is now a senior defensive assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles, and while Judge now has the title of assistant head coach on the Patriots’ staff, he’s spent his time with special teams in practice.
Jones completed 67.6 percent of his passes for 3,801 yards with 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in one of the most efficient seasons for a rookie quarterback in NFL history in 2021 under then-offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. O’Brien was still under contract at Alabama at the time, so the Patriots allowed Patricia and Judge to take over for McDaniels. Jones completed 65.2 percent of his passes for 2,997 yards with 14 touchdowns and 11 interceptions while missing three games with a high ankle sprain.
Jones was asked about being energized by the change in offensive coordinators.
“Yeah, I think just for me I’m self motivated and all of those things comes from within,” Jones said. “And just trying to be the best version of me. I hope my teammates can see that. I’m just going to grind it out and hopefully I can bring a lot of people along with me. That’s the big thing. You’re the quarterback, and at the end of the day when we’re on that field, they need to feel confident in me, and I need to feel confident in them. I think that’s built through trust.
“I think that’s the big word here for this training camp is trust. That’s going to come through trial and error, that’s going to come through good and bad, so it’s not always going to be great. So, just having that positive mindset and just kind of staying the course and running my race and bringing people along with me.”
It wasn’t always great for Jones in his first practice of the summer. But he threw touchdown passes to tight end Hunter Henry and wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster on Wednesday. And it’s a lot easier to trust the process with O’Brien as offensive coordinator.