Patriots’ first-round draft pick Mac Jones took the field on Monday set to put behind the early miscues of OTAs. Reports of his early run-throughs in a Patriots practice uniform were about as dreary as the sky above Foxboro yesterday, but once Jones took the field for his first mandatory minicamp workout on Monday, the sky seemed to clear for Mac. Early June reports seem to be more about his grasp of the playbook and less about the talent the Bama product possesses.
Cam, Mac, or CaMac
Even though he was taking snaps behind Cam Newton, it was clear that Jones was the best QB on the field yesterday. Completing 13 of 20 pass attempts against air.
Now you can bring up the fact that Cam injured his throwing hand back on June 5th and should be cut some slack, but from the film I watched, I saw the same mistakes and bad mechanics that haunted Newton for most of last season. Balls floated over – darted behind – were too far out in front of – or went into the turf at the feet of his targets.
The Patriots QB competition commences on day one of mandatory minicamp. Looking like Mac Jones had a slight edge over Cam Newton in terms of accuracy with the rain coming down. pic.twitter.com/m9sM73Menm — Patriots on NBCSB (@NBCSPatriots) June 14, 2021
No matter how loudly Belichick proclaims “Cam is way ahead of where he was last year” and even though he ended the day 12-20 in the “competitive“ portion of the workout, this is not good, people.
To all the naysayers
There is a large contingent of the Patriots Media that is hoping Cam fails. I am not one of those writers. It’s a proven fact that quarterbacks who take at least a partial redshirt season walking into the NFL are more successful than those thrown to the wolves. But they are out there sharpening their pencils set to create a divide in Patriots nation. That’s their job, it’s what they do. I’m here to cut through all that b/s.
The fact of the matter is no matter how good Jones looks today – tomorrow or in July, this team needs Cam Newton to fix whatever is broken before the season gets underway. The future is depending on the here and now.