Patriots' Bill Belichick: Mac Jones Has 'Earned a Lot of Respect' with Work Ethic

New England Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones has already made a positive impression.

"He's working hard," head coach Bill Belichick said, per Mark Daniels of the Providence Journal. "He puts in a lot of time. Certainly giving his very best effort to do everything we've asked him to do and do it the way we've asked him to do it, which is a great place to start. He's earned a lot of respect for that. But he's got a long way to go. We'll see how it goes."

While Jones will be under the spotlight as a first-round pick for a franchise that is looking for a long-term answer at quarterback with Tom Brady no longer around, he is accustomed to playing under pressure.

After all, every game at Alabama feels like something of a must-win for a program that is always in championship-or-bust mode, and he helped lead the Crimson Tide to that national title last season as a Heisman Trophy finalist.

He completed 77.4 percent of his passes in 2020 for 4,500 yards, 41 touchdowns and just four interceptions.

Putting up numbers that are even close to that at the NFL level would help him earn plenty more respect.