Patriots Insider: Mac Jones 'Impressive'; Lit Up Minicamp, 'Out-Duels Bailey Zappe'

Having an offensive coordinator with a proven track record in the NFL seems to be agreeing with Mac Jones.

Per Mark Daniels of MassLive.com, the New England Patriots quarterback had an "impressive" showing during Monday's mandatory minicamp practice as he "out-duels Bailey Zappe" while lighting up the stat sheet.

While they don't keep official count of stats during practice, Daniels recorded Jones as completing 25 consecutive passes at one point between seven-on-seven and 11-on-11 drills.

Zappe went 19-of-25 combined in seven-on-seven and 11-on-11 drills. Doug Kyed of AtoZSports.com noted Jones has "taken almost all" of the first-team reps, with Zappe and Trace McSorley "relegated to backup duties."

Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio reported on April 4 that Patriots head coach Bill Belichick shopped the 24-year-old to opposing teams in trades this offseason, but nothing has happened to this point.

If the Patriots were strongly considering trading Jones right now, it wouldn't make sense to have him running the first-team offense.

Bill O'Brien was hired as offensive coordinator in January in an attempt to turn things around after the Matt Patricia experiment failed last season. The 53-year-old spent two seasons as Alabama's offensive coordinator in 2021 and 2022. He was hired by the program in January 2021 as Jones was leaving the Crimson Tide to prepare for the NFL draft.

Zappe, a fourth-round draft pick in 2022, went 2-0 in two starts last season. He threw for 781 yards, five touchdowns and completed 70.7 percent of his attempts in four total appearances.

Jones threw for 2,997 yards, 14 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and completed 65.2 percent of his passes in 2022. The Patriots finished 17th in points and 26th in yards per game last season.