FOXBORO, Mass. — Bill Belichick has seen progress from injured New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones.
But he’s not ready to say whether Jones will be able to suit up Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.
“Mac, I think, is making good improvement, and we’ll see where he is today,” Belichick said before Friday’s practice. “Certainly, he (did) a lot more this Thursday than he did last Thursday, and I imagine Friday, same thing. But we’ll see.”
Jones has missed the last two games with a high ankle sprain suffered during New England’s Week 3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. He’s been listed as limited in each of the last five practices, and he’s looked more mobile and less labored this week than he did during the leadup to last Sunday’s win over the Detroit Lions, which rookie Bailey Zappe started in his stead.
In Week 4, Jones was ruled out for the Patriots’ road game against the Green Bay Packers on Friday. The following week, he was listed as doubtful and not officially ruled out until New England released its inactive list 90 minutes before kickoff.
The Patriots will announce Jones’ status for this Sunday’s game when they release their final injury report Friday afternoon. Based on his practice participation this week, a “questionable” designation seems most likely. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler earlier this week reported Jones has a “decent chance” to play.
Belichick would not say whether Jones has been medically cleared to suit up against Cleveland. If he is, then the team would need to weigh the benefits of playing a potentially limited Jones or a fully healthy Zappe, who went 17-for-21 for 188 yards and one touchdown with one interception as the Patriots rolled to a 29-0 win in his first NFL start.
“Saturday is an important day in this whole process,” Belichick explained. “I know everybody wants a definite answer, but it’s just totally unrealistic to be able to do that. We don’t know how a player is going to feel after three days of practice, depending on what the volume is or the intensity is. That’s impossible to know that until you actually experience it, or he experiences it. So we’ll see.”
Belichick added: “I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to talk about Mac’s medical status. But I’ll pass on that.”
