JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Jaguars QB Mac Jones pushed aside the giant red ball, ran by two staffers trying to hit him with pads, slipped through two more holding padded sticks trying to poke the football loose, and did a front flip onto a giant blue pad to finish the ball security drill at a recent training camp practice.
But he wasn't finished, at least until he popped back up and did a quick dance.
That was just one of the many lighthearted moments Jones has had in his five months with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The change in scenery from leaving New England after three years and coming back to his hometown Jacksonville has re-energized him and allowed his personality to emerge.
The result: He's enjoying playing football more now than he has in a long time.
"I think it's been really laid back here, but very organized," Jones said. "And when I went to Alabama, you're a freshman, you're young, and then you kind of grow into your own player. So I feel like that's a correlation. Obviously, the facilities here are amazing and the coaches and the organization here, they do everything A to Z, so I feel like that's more my vibe and I do feel like I'm having fun again.
"Obviously winning is fun. So hopefully we can do some of that, too."
The New England Patriots drafted Jones 15th overall in 2021. As a rookie he led the Patriots to the playoffs and was a Pro Bowl alternate, but his career there derailed. After an ankle injury, a revolving door of offensive coordinators and Bill Belichick's decision to hire longtime defensive coach Matt Patricia as the playcaller, Jones was no longer proving to be their franchise QB. The Patriots traded Jones to the Jaguars for a 2024 sixth-round pick in March, bringing him in to compete with C.J. Beathard to be Trevor Lawrence's backup.
From the start, the Jaguars were getting a personality-filled Jones.
In his introductory news conference with his new team, Jones joked that he didn't have too much time to talk because his mom was picking him up from the facility in 30 minutes. During OTAs, he finished the ball security drill with a dance that could have resembled the Dougie. He has continued to be playful and open on the field in training camp -- finishing a ball security drill by rolling the football like a bowling ball and throwing a football into the stands after he "scrambled" for a touchdown.
"I mean, honestly, we had a great practice after that, so I felt like it brings energy to the stadium, brings energy to the guys on our team, and everyone loves it," Jones said. "They're like, 'Keep doing it'. So I think they enjoy it. Maybe in some places it's frowned upon, but I'm going to have fun with it and that's what I do. And at the end of the day, that's what the sport's about. I know it's a business and it's hard and there's a lot of ups and downs, but if I have fun on the practice field, I can carry that over to the game days."
Jones' renewed fun has shown up on the field. He leads the NFL in passer rating (120.7) and is third in passing yards (308) and completion percentage (73.5%) in the preseason (based on 14 pass attempts per game). He completed 16 of 23 passes for 210 yards and two TDs in the Jaguars' 20-7 victory over Tampa Bay last Saturday, playing the entire first half and then re-entering the game in the fourth quarter after C.J. Beathard suffered a groin injury.
Offensive coordinator Press Taylor said he's been impressed with Jones' growth in the offense in the short amount of time he's been here.
"He's a sponge," Taylor said. "He loves learning football, talking football. You see his experience. All the concepts we run he's run at some point in time. Some of it is translating and then you try as quickly as you can to get away from the old language you have. ... He's done that.
"He's playing quicker each day that he gets, every rep he gets."
Head coach Doug Pederson said Jones has seamlessly fit into the locker room and can tell Jones feels comfortable and relaxed. The best way to describe it?
"He's eccentric," Pederson joked. "He can be a little quirky at times. You see him on the field doing some different things, but that's the joy and the fun I think that he wanted to get back to a little bit, and he's done a great job for us."
Nobody seems to be having more fun with Jones than Taylor. When Taylor was using a padded stick in a ball security drill, he poked at the ball when Lawrence and Beathard came through. When he got to Jones, though, he -- well, Jones described it as "beating the crap out of me." When doing another ball security drill with the quarterbacks, Taylor jumped on top of Jones and spent almost a minute trying to wrestle the ball free, which he eventually did, with Jones laughing the entire time.
It's almost as if Taylor is treating Jones as his annoying little brother.
"I think that's a good way to describe it," Taylor said. "What I love about Mac is that Mac loves football. He loves playing football, he loves talking football, which I think I'm very similar in that way. We have a good rapport in that sense. Mac's always having a good time, always talking. We talked about that before, so I've got no problem talking. We like to chirp back and forth every once in a while.
"So, it's fun."
And if you've got an annoying little brother, you definitely can relate to this aspect of their relationship:
"He's constantly asking questions," Taylor said. "He's constantly talking, which one thing, like, 'hey, shut up, I have to give you a play call real quick.' He just runs his mouth all the time, which is fun. It makes practice fun.
"He's chirping with the DBs all the time. It's hard [in OTAs] when we don't have helmets on so there's no headset communicator. I have to physically get him to come talk to me to give him the next play call."
Jones hasn't crossed into the "annoying" area with his teammates, though. Lawrence called him fun to be around and then used a word that may have never been used to describe an NFL player until now.
"He's just bubbly," Lawrence said.
"That's probably the best word to describe him," he continued. "Bubbly. Loves football, loves being out there. The guys respond great to him, but he also has great command. He's not just a jokester. He's serious and takes care of his business. Really smart player and I've been impressed with how he's handled everything."
Jones' 2023 season in New England was a disaster, and there were reports that he lost the support of his teammates, though tight end Hunter Henry said last September that he'd "go to battle with [Jones] any day of the week. I love competing with that guy every single day and I'll go to war with him wherever it is."
Jones doesn't talk about his Patriots tenure and the way it ended, but he has been respectful of the organization and complimentary of his time in New England while looking toward the future.
"I have a lot of respect for where I came from and I have no hard feelings and my goal is to move forward and put that behind me and cherish the relationships that I still have there," he said. "But at the same time, it's 2024 and it's time to be on this new team."