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Jacksonville Jaguars QB Mac Jones embracing new role, having fun 'just being Mac'
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- Jacksonville Jaguars QB Mac Jones embracing new role, having fun 'just being Mac'
It hasn't been the smoothest NFL journey for Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Mac Jones but, at least for the moment, Jones is enjoying his life in the league and making it one of his missions to continue developing, waiting for the team to take a chance on him.
For now, his attention rests solely with the Jaguars after spending the last three seasons with the New England Patriots , drafted in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft as the heir apparent to Hall of Fame QB Tom Brady .
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He's having a blast doing it, too.
"It feels weird, honestly," Jones said with a belly laugh to the Times-Union shortly after practice Thursday. "Just being Mac and being my own guy. Being the quarterback that everyone wants to play with. I like to have fun, like to talk a little smack and I don't want to feel bad doing that. It's just my personality and I think everyone here is embracing it."
NO PANIC: Doug Pederson refuses to panic over sluggish offense early in camp
Jones is one of the most popular players at Jaguars practices. He's the newest quarterback on the team but also one of the most entertaining players at practice. Between dance moves, trash talk and simple vibing throughout the daily sessions, he's brought a bit of life to the Miller Electric Center.
The trash talk Jones has with the Jaguars defense isn't limited to players his age or experience, either. The rookies aren't safe, and one in particular has felt the brunt of Jones' smack talk.
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" Jarrian Jones and I can mouth off to each other. He's a rookie, but it's good to have someone on defense and offense that, maybe it's a hot day... everyone's tired, [and] I can kind of just bring that juice hopefully and maybe it sparks up the practice and gets everybody going," Jones said.
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Mac Jones (10) laughs with wide receiver Gabe Davis (0) during the third day of an NFL football training camp practice Friday, July 26, 2024 at EverBank Stadium’s Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla.
Jones also has a healthy relationship with offensive coordinator Press Taylor, who he described as a "really smart young-minded coach." The two can be seen jawing at each other at different times during camp and simply having fun.
On Wednesday, Taylor wrestled the ball away from Jones after a ball-protection drill the team runs at least once every practice.
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Mac Jones (10) laughs as offensive coordinator Press Taylor tries to strip the ball on a crash pad during the seventh day of an NFL football training camp practice Wednesday, July 31, 2024 at EverBank Stadium’s Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla.
Taylor talked about his and Jones' relationship on Wednesday, agreeing that he could view him as an annoying little brother.
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"That's a good way to describe it," Taylor said with a laugh. "What I love about Mac is that Mac loves football. He loves playing football, he loves talking football, which I think I'm very similar in that way. We have a good rapport in that sense. Mac's always having a good time, always talking. We talked about that before, so I've got no problem talking. We like to chirp back and forth every once in a while."
Jaguars quarterbacks coach Mike McCoy has seen Jones having fun and believes he understands what is expected of him in the role he's set to play for Jacksonville.
"We talked about all these things before he signed here. I think coach [Pederson] clearly defined exactly what his role was going to be and how we're going to handle the offseason program through training camp with all three quarterbacks in the room, and how we're going to operate. That's all he wanted," McCoy told the Times-Union Saturday. "He wanted an opportunity to come into a situation and we told him exactly what it was and he understood it."
"Now, when you are in a different role, you kind of take a step back and sometimes that's the best thing for your future moving forward, so you're in a tough situation sometimes and you can learn from all those things," McCoy continued. "He's just happy to be here, and he's done an outstanding job of helping us get to where we are today."
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'Fit in where I get in': Mac Jones embracing new role with Jaguars
While it's fun and games at times during practice, Jones is taking his job with Jacksonville seriously.
In New England , he started 42 games, completing 66.1% of his passes for 8,918 yards, 46 touchdowns and 36 interceptions. After posting a solid rookie season with a 22:13 touchdown touchdown-to-interception ratio, Jones struggled the following seasons, throwing just 14 and 10 touchdowns with 11 and 12 interceptions thrown through the 2022-23 seasons, respectively.
After multiple play-caller changes , a benching , a bevy of criticism and eventually a full regime change after Bill Belichick's departure in January, Jones was dealt to the Jaguars for a 2024 sixth-round pick .
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Change can spark new life and that's what Jones is embracing so far during his time with the Jaguars, especially since the former Bolles School QB is returning home to the First Coast.
Bolles' Mac Jones (10) throws a pass under pressure from Cocoa's Howard Stewart (44) during the first half of the 4A football state championship at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla., Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016. [Gary Lloyd McCullough/For the Times-Union]
"Just really trying to find what works for me and my process. Being back home is really nice and we got a great weight room, obviously a great coaching staff, great players. Really, just trying to fit in where I get in and I really enjoy the guys on this team," said Jones. "I feel like it's definitely a different vibe than what I'm used to and it's a good vibe out there. So, hopefully, we can just keep that going."
Jones' "fit" will be as a backup quarterback with the Jaguars. Lawrence is locked in as the team's starter for the next several years and Jones will have to compete with incumbent No. 2 QB C.J. Beathard on the depth chart. While he was used to starting with the Patriots, learning to embrace the challenge of competition isn't unknown to Jones.
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When he first stepped on campus at Alabama, the former Bolles QB spent time on the scout team before becoming the team's starting quarterback before the 2020 season, eventually declaring for the draft shortly thereafter. While still his goofy self, Jones took the challenge and embraced it.
"I think it's just running my huddle, how I do it and I think people enjoy being in my huddle and I really take a lot of pride in it, getting the guys going, having fun with it. All the quarterbacks do that, so whether you're with the ones, twos or threes, it doesn't matter for me," Jones said.
"I learned on the scout team at Alabama that you can be the 'two' the next day and the 'one' the next year, you just don't know when it's gonna happen, but you will get a chance. Whenever that happens, whether it's sooner or later, you just got to be ready."
Moving forward, Jones looks to learn from his successes and failures.
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"You fail, you mess up, you do really well, there are a lot of touchdowns, there's some interceptions, there's everything in between but you got to take that and just learn from it," Jones said. "I feel like I'm actually starting to do that now. Just getting kind of that sky view of everything. I remember I ran this play and made the wrong throw so I'm gonna figure out what I can do better and it's applying a little better now."
What's next?: Mac Jones, Mike McCoy work to find out next steps
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback coach Mike McCoy puts quarterback Mac Jones (10) through drills during the fourth day of the NFL football training camp practice session Saturday, July 27, 2024 at EverBank Stadium's Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla.. [Bob Self/Florida Times-Union]
Jones will have an uphill battle to learn yet another new playbook, but it's not foreign to him.
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He learned multiple playbooks during his time with the Patriots and dating back to his time at Alabama and with Bolles. Jones' ability to retain information was made obvious by his quarterbacks coach when he first arrived in Jacksonville.
"The details and the preparation and everything, he's been well-coached coming in prepared and I love the way he's kind of taken it upon himself during the offseason program of mastering the system, and not just in the meetings, but taking work him with him," McCoy explained.
"We get on vacation, he comes back with a bunch of notes. He's a true professional."
McCoy explained that while Jones is still learning, some of the terminology that is in Jacksonville is familiar to the young quarterback who learned under former Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
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"I was with Josh McDaniels way back when. So, I know a lot of the terminology that they used with him. So, I could bring up something, or a certain rule that we had back in the day or protection calls," McCoy explained, talking about when Jones first got to Jacksonville. "I could tell him, not everything, but some of the things when he first got here, 'this is what you had' and he's done a great job of just doing that, of saying, 'hey, we called it this in New England,' well, now it's this."
What's next for Jones is similar to the rest of the quarterbacks in Jacksonville. Right now, the team is ramping up, coming out of the acclimation period and moving toward fully-padded practices. That's when, McCoy says, that Jones will learn the most.
"When it's more physical in their style of defense, we're playing with the tighter coverage and things like that. It's just you got to learn how your teammates come in and out of breaks, and then really learning also about your offensive line, where are the matchups?" Jones said. "And you learn the strengths and weaknesses of your entire team as an offense. That's the biggest adjustment for him right now, just learning about his teammates. The football knowledge? He's fine, that's easy."
Now, Jones gets to learn from McCoy, a former head coach and quarterback, and head coach Doug Pederson who knows exactly what he's going through as a former NFL backup QB himself. Of course, Jones still looks forward to another opportunity to start, whether in Jacksonville or elsewhere.
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"He's been awesome. Super detailed in meetings. Everything's very planned out, which is how I roll. But, he's also very laid back and loose, but the attention to detail doesn't fall off because of that. So, everyone's locked in. He does a great job. He knows how it feels to throw touchdowns, he knows what it feels like to throw interceptions. He's gotten knocked down a few times himself so he knows how it feels," Jones said.
"So it's good to have somebody behind you that can kind of see what we were practicing like, 'Hey, Mac, maybe a little quicker there' or 'Hey, that was really good ball' or 'Hey, that was a bad decision.' Just that confirmation from somebody who's actually done it versus like someone who hasn't."
Regardless, Jones isn't taking this opportunity for granted and wants to play his role out, whatever that may become.
"Whatever my role is, I'm going to definitely do it to the best of my ability and my goal is to continue to develop physically and mentally, and hopefully someone can see that, whether it's here or somewhere else... my attention is 100% here, and when it changes if something happens, I'll be ready. So that's my mindset," said Jones.
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Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Demetrius82 .
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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jaguars QB Mac Jones having fun in new role as backup
