Press Taylor: Jaguars Backup QB Mac Jones Is 'A Sponge'

The Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator had plenty of positive things to say about new quarterback Mac Jones.

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Mac Jones (10) throws the ball during the second day of a mandatory minicamp Tuesday, June 11, 2024 at EverBank Stadium’s Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union] / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA

The Jacksonville Jaguars sent a sixth-round pick to the New England Patriots in March for backup quarterback Mac Jones. And since then, all reviews have been positive.

"Mac's done a great job just getting in here and learning the offense. He's a sponge. He loves learning football, talking football," Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor said on Tuesday. "He's constantly in the building, he's constantly asking questions, he's constantly talking, which one thing, like, ‘hey, shut up, I have to give you a play call real quick.’ He just runs his mouth all the time, which is fun. It makes practice fun. He's chirping with the DBs all the time. It's hard right now when we don't have helmets on so there's no headset communicator. I have to physically get him to come talk to me to give him the next play call."

Jones spent the entire Jaguars' three-day minicamp as the only quarterback on the practice field, giving Taylor and head coach Doug Pederson a chance to see him operate the offense with increased reps.

"He's done a great job just learning. You see his experience. He's played a lot of football. All the concepts we run he's run at some point in time," Taylor said.

"Some of it is translating and then you try as quickly as you can to get away from the old language you have. You can't keep telling yourself, oh, this is this. Well, this is this and at a certain point it's got to go away and it's got to be this is this. This is how we communicate. This is our language. He's done that. He's playing quicker each day that he gets, every rep he gets. We're glad we have him."

Jones, who turns 26 in September, will now figure to be Trevor Lawrence's backup after the two were both first round picks in the 2021 NFL Draft. The Jaguars also have veteran quarterback C.J. Beathard still rostered for one more year.

Jones was the No. 15 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft after a strong final season at Alabama. His rookie year was his best season in New England, with Jones going 10-7 as a starter and throwing for 3,801 yards, 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

Jones regressed in 2022, going 6-8 in 14 starts and throwing for 2,997 yards and 14 touchdowns with 11 interceptions.

Jones' final run with the Patriots came in 2023, with the former first round pick starting 11 games and going 2-9 in the process before heading for the bench. In his third season, Jones threw for 2,120 yards, 10 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

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