Why Mac Jones secretly wanted to land in New England

In retrospect, the Patriots’ interest in Mac Jones was no secret.

Bill Belichick scouted his Pro Day.

Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels tested Jones over Zoom.

Pats evaluators interviewed him at the Senior Bowl back in January.

Jones’ interest in the Patriots, on the other hand, was lesser known.

Despite being projected to San Francisco at No. 3 overall, Jones said in his first NFL press conference Thursday that he always hoped to fall during the draft to New England.

“You want to just get the right fit, and I feel like, secretly, I really wanted to go to the Patriots all along,” Jones said. “So I’m actually really happy that it happened. But it doesn’t really matter. You get picked. You got to take the opportunity and take advantage of it and learn the new system, learn the new coaches, learn the new culture, and Coach Belichick’s done a great job establishing that throughout his time in New England.”

The 22-year-old said he appreciated the team-first culture that governs everything around the football operations at 1 Patriot Place. It is one of several parallels that can be drawn between Belichick’s program and Alabama’s, run by trusted friend Nick Saban. Jones saw plenty of Belichick during his time in college, and heard much about the Patriots, including from former teammates like Damien Harris, now the Pats’ top running back.

“It’s all about the team. And that’s kind of what I grew up knowing is being a good teammate,” Jones said. “And then obviously winning, it comes down to winning football games and New England’s done that. But they don’t look in the past, they just look at the future, so we’ve got to just focus on trying to win games and take it day by day and eventually you’ll win a lot of games.

“So, I’m just looking forward to getting in there and meeting my new teammates and seeing what happens from there.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3u6kYQG