Something about the way the Patriots are operating heading into this weekend’s game suggests there could be a real decision coming at quarterback, and the team is taking plenty of steps to muddy the waters.
Mac Jones practiced in full pads with the rest of the Patriots this week and led off individual drills with the quarterbacks and combined drills with the wide receivers – functioning as if he plans once again to give his sprained left ankle a go this weekend against the Cleveland Browns.
The injured quarterback certainly looked more mobile than he did last week at this time, even doing a light rollout to his right before throwing a pass in warmups. But though his limp is much less perceptible than it was, he still favored his heavily taped ankle a couple of times on drop-backs, suggesting it’s not fully without pain.
Still, it’s hard to look at Jones’ showing – the little we could see of it -- as anything other than positive as he works his way back to health. Perhaps that's why we were allowed to see a bit more action than usual from the quarterbacks during warmups...
But don’t pencil him in as the Patriots’ starter this weekend just yet.
Though Bailey Zappe took reps behind Jones in warmups – he did the same last week, for what it’s worth – the team announced Zappe, not Jones, would be heading to the podium on Wednesday afternoon to speak with media, which is customarily something the starting quarterback does.
Additionally, the rookie appears to be emulating Jones’ leadership quirk of warming up with the offensive line during positional drills, giving them mock cadences while they fire off and hit a blocking sled. That in and of itself might not mean anything, but it certainly suggests Zappe is preparing every day like he will start down to the minute details.
We’ll see what Jones’ participation level looks like at practice today – he was limited all last week and will likely be listed the same way Wednesday.
Additionally, NFL Media's Mike Giardi suggested, per sources, Jones would still be dealing with "some instability" in the ankle if he played this weekend but that swelling around the injury has decreased and the issue "could be managed" if he keeps progression.
For his part, Bill Belichick wouldn't reveal anything about his thought process regarding his quarterbacks, only saying "we'll see" if Jones is back this week and saying Zappe's play is "independent" and "has nothing to do with" when Jones will return.
But much like last week, when ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported Jones “made things interesting” in terms of pushing to play against the Detroit Lions, we might not know who’s going to start for the Patriots until the weekend.
