FOXBORO — History would suggest Jack Jones sauntered off the Patriots’ ‘practice field by himself after receiving zero medical attention Thursday because he was ejected.
A minute before he left, Jones broke up a pass intended for Kendrick Bourne during an 11-on-11 period. A crowd of players immediately gathered at the spot where they had fallen near the defensive sideline. After standing up, Jones spoke with Jabrill Peppers as they paced the sideline together and walked away from the play.
Then, the young corner walked away from everybody, his head down as he ambled down a staircase and back into the stadium. It was the same path dozens of Patriots have taken over two decades under Bill Belichick for fighting, throwing a punch or committing some other cardinal sin of practice.
Except 20 minutes later, Jones returned.
He strolled back onto the same field and took a knee on the defensive sideline, where director of player personnel Matt Groh dropped to his level. They spoke for just over a minute before Groh stood and later, Jalen Mills replaced him as Jones’ conversation partner. Mills and Jones conversed longer than anyone had with the troubled second-year corner so far at practice, which ended without Jones seeing another snap or rep.
In his place, the Patriots were forced to deploy seventh-round rookie Isaiah Bolden and sixth-rounder Ameer Speed, a projected core special teamer. Their corner depth was instantly tested in a way the Pats hope to avoid during the season, but will be forced to confront if Jones is sidelined indefinitely for the felony gun charges he faces following a June arrest at Logan Airport.
Even if Bill Belichick continues to run Jones out with the second-stringers during training camp, to protect his top defense from losing a potential starter come September, Jonathan Jones and rookie Christian Gonzalez can only cover so many receivers. Then it will fall on players like Bolden, Speed, 5-foot-8 Marcus Jones or nickelback/safety Myles Bryant to make up the difference .As for Jones, be it before Belichick or the law, he’ll be covering for himself for a while.
Elsewhere at Thursday’s practice, Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe both threw interceptions over positive days, Kendrick Bourne enjoyed his best practice of the summer, Gonzalez got physical and more rookies made some noise.
Here are the Herald’s complete practice observations:
Absent: G Cole Strange, RB/WR Ty Montgomery, LB Terez Hall
Limited: LT Trent Brown, OLB Matthew Judon, RB Rhamondre Stevenson, CB Jack Jones, WR Tyquan Thornton, S Brad Hawkins, G Chasen Hines
Non-contact jersey: LB/S Marte Mapu
PUP: OL Mike Onwenu, S Cody Davis
Non-Football Illness: OT Calvin Anderson
Notes: Judon has not participated in three of the last four practices or any padded practice. Brown was a non-participant for the fourth straight day. Thornton again departed for the conditioning field after initial drills, where he joined Judon, Brown, Hawkins and Hines. Strange and Montgomery walked onto the field midway through practice, helmets in hand, and watched from the sideline.
Talk about bang-bang.
On the opening snap of 11-on-11s, Mac Jones hit backup tight end Matt Sokol for a short, safe completion over the middle. Sokol turned upfield and — bam! Veteran linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley knocked out any sense of safety by punching the ball out. Bentley’s turnover sent a message that the Patriots’ top defense wasn’t about to get pushed around for a second straight padded practice.
While Jack Jones left his fellow cornerbacks behind, the elder Jones dominated with two pass breakups in team drills. First, he knocked down a poor throw from Mac Jones intended for Demario Douglas on a deep crossing route. Later, Jones out-fought DeVante Parker to strip the ball from him on a fade route.
Best of all, he didn’t allow a single catch in man-to-man coverage.
Note: The passing stats below were tallied during competitive 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 periods only. The stats in parentheses represent the quarterbacks’ camp-long performance.
The second-round rookie is still on the rise.
After going unbeaten in 1-on-1 pass rush Wednesday, and helping generate a tackle for loss, White collected two sacks in another padded practice Thursday. His combination of power and movement skills at 290 pounds is exceptionally rare.
Welcome back!
Bourne caught five passes on seven targets during team periods, more than double the number of receptions he’d totaled over seven prior practices. He was a frequent target for Bailey Zappe and caught one pass from Mac Jones. In 1-on-1s, he went unbeaten with catches against Myles Bryant and Quandre Moseley.
Before his forced fumble, Bentley shut down star running back Rhamondre Stevenson during a 1-on-1 coverage drill and drew loud cheers from his defensive teammates. Bentley was also in the vicinity of two run stuffs during 11-on-11 periods.
Whether he was ejected or removed himself from practice, Jones’ lack of availability hurt the Patriots. He also was held out of an earlier 1-on-1 drill, possibly for being late to stretching.
Mac Jones ensuring there’s no Patriots QB competition with Bailey Zappe