Mac Jones Breaks Silence, Talks Ankle Injury And Bailey Zappe

FOXBORO, Mass. — Mac Jones hadn’t spoken to reporters since the day after injuring his ankle in the Patriots’ Week 3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

That changed Friday afternoon.

The sophomore quarterback appeared toward the end of locker room availability and fielded five questions. He spoke about his injury recovery, his status for Monday night’s game against the Chicago Bears and the performance of rookie quarterback Bailey Zappe.

Here’s a full transcript:

Question: “Are you gonna be back?”

Jones: “Um, yeah, I think I’m doing well. Just trying to get better and get my treatment — you know, day by day. But it does feel pretty good, and I’m just getting my treatment right now to be ready to go.”

Question: “Do you think you will be ready Monday?”

Jones: “Like I said, just gonna try and do my best to put the hours in to get ready. And definitely moving better, so feels pretty good.”

Question: “How’s the injury been, mentally?”

Jones: “Yeah, it’s been good. I think you get to watch and learn as much as you can and try and get healthy. I’ve done a good job trying to help the team as best I can in film. And during the game to watch, it was really good. Obviously, I wanna be out there to help the team win and that’s what I wanna do.”

Question: “Bailey Zappe said that you’ve been really supporting him. Why has that been important for you?”

Jones: “Yeah, I think I’ve been in these types of situations before — whether that’s in college or not. If you’re in, you’re in, and you want to have everyone helping you. He’s done a good job of stepping up, of being a young guy. And I’ve always had really good mentors and things like that, so that’s my plan.”

Question: “Physically, do you think the ankle’s ready to go?”

Jones: “Yeah, I think it feels pretty good. Just trying to work through all the stuff being able to play an NFL football game. … Watch I’m there, I’m there, and I’m definitely making a lot of progress.”

It’s still unclear whether Jones will play against Chicago. He was a limited participant in Friday’s practice but reportedly expects to be available for the Week 7 matchup. Bill Belichick offered no clarity during his Friday afternoon news conference.

The Patriots and Bears will kick off at 8:15 p.m. ET on Monday.