Mac Jones looks like clear lead dog among Patriots quarterbacks
FOXBORO -- Bill Belichick makes it clear every year around this time: OTAs are not a "competition camp." They are a "teaching camp."
That means don't read into when players are taking their reps. Don't make too much out of different groupings or combinations of players in offensive or defensive huddles. Don't count snaps or tally completions.
"We're working different combinations of groups together, different guys, different rotations, it's not necessarily coordinated," Belichick said Wednesday. "One group might go over four plays, another group might go over three plays, one group might go over two plays, it depends on how many people we have in there and things like that.
"However it falls, it falls. It's not about that. It's really about everybody getting experience in the system and getting comfortable playing with new teammates and the communication and, just like I said, sharpening our skills up out there."
Still, people read into what they see in these workouts. In part because -- despite Belichick's protestations that these workouts are "not necessarily coordinated" -- these practices aren't random everyone-gets-to-play-with-everyone scenarios. Generally speaking, regulars play with regulars. Generally speaking, undrafted players play with other little-known young players and journeymen veterans.
It's worth noting then that Mac Jones looked like the starter at quarterback for the Patriots in their first practice in front of reporters.
There had been speculation that there would be a competition for the starting job between Bailey Zappe -- who impressed in bursts during his rookie season -- and Jones. After a down season for the Patriots offense, and emotional on-field flare-ups between Jones and last year's offensive coaching staff, there were questions as to whether or not the quarterback job would be Jones' outright. And there may be a real competition once training camp begins.
But Wednesday's work served as an indication that there was a No. 1 at the most important position on the team.
Jones took the field initially with DeVante Parker, Tyquan Thornton, Ty Montgomery, Mike Gesicki and Hunter Henry. Those players represent three of the top-four skill-position salary cap figures on the roster (Henry, Parker and Gesicki) among players who were available to Wednesday's practice. (JuJu Smith-Schuster was not present.)
Zappe initially took the field with Montgomery, Kendrick Bourne, Kayshon Boutte, Pierre Strong and Matt Sokol.
Jones also got the majority of the work, in 11-on-11 situations, with an offensive line led by David Andrews that also included Cole Strange, Calvin Anderson, Riley Reiff and Bill Murray. During the same period, Zappe worked with Andrew Stueber, Atonio Mafi, Kody Russey, Jake Andrews and Sidy Sow -- three rookies and two second-year players with zero pro snaps between them.
In a back-and-forth with reporters on Wednesday, Jones called his second year "a learning experience." When asked if he'd like his critics to "shut the F up," Jones laughed.
"Yeah, we'll see," he said. "That's a lot of emotion. I think everyone's entitled to their opinion. But all I can do, like I said earlier, I'm going to run my race and hopefully everybody we'll run right behind me and we'll be able to push this thing along and learn from everything. I'm going to do everything I can to earn the respect of everyone in this building again."
