Patriots
“Whenever we’re doing something, he likes to be hands-on.”
Even though he was drafted by the Patriots in 2022, Marcus Jones is currently one of the seasoned veterans on New England’s revamped secondary, especially after longtime cornerback Jonathan Jones left the team via free agency to sign with Washington.
On Tuesday, he acknowledged that the team is changing things up now that Mike Vrabel is at the helm as head coach and addressed their approach to implementing a new defense during the team’s voluntary offseason program.
“Taking it one day at a time, so it’s not one of those situations where they’re throwing all of the playbook at you at once,” Jones said at Gillette Stadium. “We’re not looking too far into the future.
“There is a lot we have to do with install, OTAs, training camp. The excitement is we’re in the room and in the building, but we have to take it one day at a time. Don’t get overwhelmed, and [Vrabel] basically told us we’d take it one day at a time and take it from there.”
Entering his fourth season in New England, Jones is set to play for his third head coach with the Patriots. Bill Belichick coached him from 2022-23 before Jerod Mayo took over for his lone season as head coach in 2024.
Both Vrabel and the Patriots have a long way to go when to comes to righting the ship after a 4-13 season. But, Jones has been impressed with how Vrabel has conducted practices already this spring.
“Whenever we’re doing something, he likes to be hands-on,” Jones said of Vrabel’s approach this week. “Just having that in the building, and having the music in the hallways in the building, it’s great to have it around.”
Vrabel might draw most of the headlines when it comes to New England’s overhauled coaching staff, but the ex-Patriots linebacker is also bringing in a revamped staff around him, including new cornerbacks coach Justin Hamilton.
Even though New England is expected to start next season with both Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis as the team’s top corners, the 5-foot-8 Jones is expected to receive plenty of reps as New England’s de-facto slot corner.
Despite his smaller frame, Hamilton believes that Jones has a lot to offer with his athleticism and hard-hitting approach.
“Watching his tape, I saw a more physical player than I expected to see,” Hamilton said of Jones last week. “He’s a fit for us in the DB room. My conversations with him, it’s been a young man that has an older soul — very mature and communicates really well.”
While Jones and a majority of New England’s roster are in the process of adjusting to Vrabel and his staff’s new approach, free-agent pickup Harold Landry — who played for Vrabel for five seasons in Tennessee — believes that Vrabel is already making a positive impact in Foxborough.
“He wants everybody to be excited when we come to work. He’s big on that. He’s big on the energy. That’s just who he is,” Landry said of Vrabel. “Everybody looks at him as this head coach, but he really just one of the boys, a locker room guy. And I really mean that.
“He wants to get to know you, know about your family and everything that goes along with being in a relationship with you.”
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