Mac Jones has been in pursuit of Cam Newton throughout much of the preseason when it comes to the depth chart of the New England Patriots, but it was Newton who was in pursuit of Jones on Sunday night.
Newton, who took the first-team reps at quarterback during the third and final preseason game against the New York Giants, was captured on camera tracking down Jones for none other than a high-five after the rookie led the Patriots offense on four-play, 50-yard touchdown drive.
It was picked up on various social media platforms with many using it as just the latest example of Newton being a good teammate to those on the New England roster. And Jones agreed.
“He showed me the video or whatever,” Jones said with a smirk after the 22-20 preseason win over the Giants. “I didn’t hear him or see him and then I was like ‘Oh, my bad!’ But that’s Cam for you. He’s happy and he’s a great teammate. So I’m happy to be in the same room as him and just learn from him ’cause he’s a great dude.”
The broadcast later showed the two signal-callers laughing it up on the sideline with the Patriots about to claim their third preseason win.
“It’s great. I think we just have good conversations,” Jones said. “He’s like a big mentor to me. At the same time we can have fun, kind of just talking. We’re human so we’re not going to be serious all the time, but he’s a funny guy and yeah he’s got some good jokes so I just like to have good conversation with him.”
Jones and Newton, obviously, are in competition for the starting quarterback position, but it doesn’t mean they have been standoffish towards their respective competition. Both players have talked extensively about how they’ve tried to help each other throughout the process.
“I think it’s been good. There’s no bad business in our quarterback room,” Jones confirmed Sunday. “We’re all trying to help each other. Obviously I played in college last year and I’ve never played in the NFL. I’m here to learn from Josh (McDaniels), from Cam (Newton), from (Brian) Hoyer, everybody. They’ve seen a lot of football whether they played or the backup or whatever, they’ve seen a lot of NFL football. They’ve been a great help to me and I hope I can help them whenever the ask for it.”
Now we’ll see who officially earns the QB1 duties entering Week 1. Bill Belichick, though, didn’t feel like discussing that after Sunday’s game.
