Even without an offensive coordinator, Patriots Mac Jones says things are running smoothly

FOXBORO — Rest easy, New England. Mac Jones has been here before.

Prior to being drafted by the Patriots, Jones spent four years at Alabama where he worked under three different offensive coordinators

During his true freshman year, in 2017, he was coached by Brian Daboll. The next year, in 2018, he played under Michael Locksley. In 2019 and 2020, Jones developed into a consensus All-American under offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian.

As the coaches changed, Jones continued to elevate his game. Now entering his second NFL season, the Patriots quarterback plans to do the same thing after the team lost offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Josh McDaniels.

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“I was fortunate to have a lot of different coordinators throughout my college time, kind of running a similar system,” Jones said on Monday as the Patriots opened their Organized Team Activities (OTAs). “I just learned from that. … Just move on and try to grow with the new set of coaches we have. We have a great group of players and coaches. It comes with the territory of playing this sport. I’m happy for Josh and his family and we’re excited to open up the next chapter.”

When it comes to deciphering who the next Patriots offensive coordinator will be, that’s a bit more complicated. On Monday, Bill Belichick scoffed at the notion that the Patriots even needed one at this moment, saying, “What plays are we calling? Minicamp plays?” He also added, “When we get to it, we'll get to it.”

On Monday, we saw three different coaches take control of the offense at different times.

Signs point to Joe Judge replacing Josh McDaniels

When practice began, it was easy to locate Joe Judge. All you had to do was look for Jones and the other quarterbacks.

Judge will be coaching quarterbacks this season and it appears that he could be doing more than that. There were several times at practice when the former New York Giants head coach was seen leading the offensive huddle before a specific drill started. While this was happening, Matt Patricia (along with assistant offensive line coach Billy Yates) was at the back of the practice field coaching the offensive linemen.

During the 7-on-7 period, it was Judge who led the huddle and relayed the play to Jones.

“I got a chance to see him last year in training camp practices and all that. He’s done a great job of coaching us,” Jones said. “He’s seen a lot of football. Obviously, he’s been around football for a long time — whether that be as a head coach, special teams, playing the positions himself — so he has knowledge that is very beneficial to me as a quarterback.”

Judge was also seen coaching receivers, tight ends and running backs during several passing drills on Monday. Then, when receiver Kendrick Bourne was asked about how difficult it was to lose McDaniels, he stated that the hardest part was learning Judge’s different terminology.

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That made it sound like Judge is acting like the future play-caller.

“Just different style. Different coaching points,” said Bourne. “Different things he wants at certain points on the field, certain depths. I think it just works in a lot of our favors. He’s good at using our strengths to put us in the right position to be successful. You can just see how he’s doing it so far.”

We can’t rule out Belichick or Patricia running the offense

Although Judge was the primary coach with the offense, we can’t rule out a joint effort from the Patriots because that’s what we saw on Monday.

During the first 11-on-11 period, the emphasis was the run game with some short throws mixed in. During these plays, Jones met with Patricia, who looked like he was giving the quarterback the play before each snap. That was a departure from what we saw during the 7-on-7 drills. That made it look like Patricia could be the Patriots play-caller (or the run-game coordinator).

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That changed during the final 11-on-11 period. These plays happened with a quicker tempo and were more competitive. In these instances, it was Belichick calling offensive plays. You could see Jones talking to Belichick and getting the play call before every snap.

“He’s been more present, helping us out. It’s new so he just wants it to go a certain way,” said Bourne. “It’s just dope having his presence. It’s like, ‘Oh, he’s watching so we’ve got to be perfect.’ That’s just how he is — the discipline, who he is as a coach, it’s special. You don’t get that all the time. He's a defensive guy. It's almost embracing it and taking advantage of the time we’re going to get with him. It’s new but I enjoy it.”

In fact, it was noteworthy how involved Belichick was with the offense during practice. The Patriots coach is considered one of the best-ever defensive minds, but he was around the offense plenty on Monday.

Prior to practice, Belichick did say he’s had experience with offensive play-calling duties, saying, “I've called them and I haven't called them. And other people have called them and they haven't called them. So, we'll see.”

At this moment, who will assume offensive play-calling duties  remains uncertain. The team’s quarterback, however, says they’re all on the same page.

“Obviously, (Belichick's) a great defensive mind, but he also has great offensive knowledge,” said Jones. “They’re all helping out and making things real easy for us and teaching us what they know. It’s been really good to stand up in the meetings and talk through things with everybody. Everyone’s on the same page regardless of who’s talking. … We’re excited to come together and work.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Patriots lack OC, have three coaches running plays at OTAS