Earlier this week, head coach Bill Belichick was spotted at New England’s minicamp practice making shotgun snaps to quarterback Mac Jones as part of a drill.
The moment was emblematic of a shift that has occurred during the 2022 offseason program, with Belichick being more directly involved with the team’s offense.
Belichick has been notoriously tight-lipped about who’s coaching what and how the offensive scheme will change after longtime coordinator Josh McDaniels departed to become the Raiders head coach. Jones didn’t give much away in his Thursday press conference either, though he did note just how much more involved Belichick has been with him this year.
“It was fun for me to get snaps from him,” Jones said. “But we were just talking through something with the running backs and, like you said, he’s very hands on. And last year, he was more with the defense and stuff. But now it’s like, ‘OK, let me show you this.’ And he’s kind of coaching us and coaching the running backs in that drill on the way that they need to get through the line of scrimmage. So he’s very hands on and I feel like we’ve made a lot of growth together as an offensive unit with him. And obviously personally with him as a quarterbacks group. So we’re all on the same page.
“He’s seen the most amount of football of any of our coaches. He’s seen defense, offense, and special teams so having his input is always going to be very beneficial to me because he knows what puts stress on the defense. And now with him being very hands on, he knows how we can stress the defense and how it’s going to play into our hand.”
While former Giants head coach Joe judge confirmed to reporters that he’s been working with quarterbacks, the team is reportedly leaning toward having former Lions head coach Matt Patricia call the offensive plays this season. But no matter who is in the headset, continuing Jones’ development in a positive manner has to be one of New England’s top priorities in 2022.