After missing most of the team’s OTA practices this spring, Patriots offensive tackle Trent Brown hasn’t been around Mac Jones long.
But after sharing a field with Jones over three days of mandatory minicamp, Brown sees big things ahead for the rookie quarterback.
“Mac, he’s a young guy, but you can’t really just refer to him as a young guy. You can tell he’s been at a place where he got some coaching,” Brown said after Wednesday’s practice. “I think he’s going to be special here in the future.”
Jones was the Patriots’ best quarterback through Day 1 and Day 2 of minicamp, before ceding the title to Cam Newton in Wednesday’s on-field finale. As Jones completed 11 of 20 passes with an interception in team drills, Newton rebounded with a marvelously efficient practice built on a 95% catchable pass rate.
Jones also threw picks to finish the last two practices, though teammates have regularly praised his worth ethic and approach as advanced for a rookie.
“So far he’s seemed poised,” Pats safety Devin McCourty said. “Obviously, I’ve only been around him, I think it’s like four or five days now. But he seems like a hard working guy obviously he’s used to being, you know on the kind of big stage playing, you know, a college Alabama. But he just seems like he’s here to work.”
This week, Jones upped his downfield aggression in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 periods, an indication of growing comfort with the system. Half of Jones’ attempts Wednesday traveled 10 or more yards downfield.
Like all Patriots, his next test will come with the start of training camp in the last week of July.
