Mac looking fairly decent in the Pro-Bowl with a tight window strike to Hunter Renfrow for a TD
The Michael McCorkle "Mac" Jones Thread
- Thread starter SeoulSoxFan
- Start date
He had a nice thread-the-needle completion to Diggs in the back of the end zone in a prior drive but part of Diggs's foot was out of bounds.
I watched to see how Mac was doing, and he was clearly having the best time out there. Jawing with other players, always smiling - great to see him out there and enjoying himself.
I know it doesn’t mean much (until it’s time to talk Hall of Fame candidacy), but it’s pretty cool that the Patriots just drafted a rookie QB, who started every game, led the team to 10 wins and a playoff berth, and then made the Pro Bowl.
Not a bad start to his career.
Not a bad start to his career.
View: https://twitter.com/espn/status/1490454072188624896?s=21
edit: oops posted above. Easier to see on Twitter.
edit: oops posted above. Easier to see on Twitter.
I believe he and Trevor Lawrence set a new NFL record for most games started by a rookie QB. And his alone counting playoffs.
True about the regular season (of course), but Joe Flacco in 2008 started all 16 regular season games and 3 postseason. Mac matched Sanchize (15 & 3) and Russell Wilson (16 & 2) for second, as far as I can tell.
I know the Pro Bowl is silly and making it (especially as an alternate) is pretty meaningless, but it's good to see how much fun Mac appeared to be having. Between what's been reported from his time at Alabama, his Belichickian pressers, and the little stuff like the girlfriend walkthroughs and this weekend that make it clear he loves football, you've gotta come out of year 1 feeling optimistic that they got a guy who will put in the work to be great. Don't want to read into puff piece stuff too much, but I couldn't be more excited to see what he looks like with a full offseason of development (and an NFL level strength and conditioning program).
There's always been a lot of talk about how the front office takes a potential draftee's "love of football" into account when making a pick. Jones clearly loves football, and hopefully that can help move him up the QB rankings in coming years.
To bring home the point of the first sentence, between starters, backups, and alternates, 9 QBs made the Pro Bowl this year.
Wrote something similar in the defense thread, but I hope Judon bounces back because I love listening to him and rooting for him
View: https://twitter.com/nbcspatriots/status/1491556121760481280?s=21
View: https://twitter.com/nbcspatriots/status/1491556121760481280?s=21
This is a pretty long watch, but it's totally worth it for the Mac Jones content alone. He's pretty prominently featured and his love of football is infectious.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyfXpwMl84Y
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyfXpwMl84Y
As someone who can't bring themselves to cheer for Mahomes, I thought the video humanized him.. which I hated. Unrelated but was Kyler Murray even mic'd up? They showed him a ton in that video but I can't say anything he said/did stood out at all.
Mahomes seemed very affable. It pains me to say it, but he did. Kelce came across the same way in the AFCCG micd up video. It’s ok, we’ll always have the 2018 AFCCG. I already liked Mac, but this video makes it even easier to root for him.
When I clicked play on a 20 minute video about the pro bowl I didn't expect to watch the whole thing but man was that a lot of fun. Mac had to be like 10 minutes of it alone. Mahomes comes off super likable, too.
This. Really enjoyed it, you can see why players seem to gravitate towards Mac.
Caught this tweet on reddit, but it lends to the idea that Mac is working with Tom House this offseason.
View: https://twitter.com/TJA4Michigan/status/1497932518640611328?s=20&t=WYT7XxFdERSSCcyIA73GCg
View: https://twitter.com/TJA4Michigan/status/1497932518640611328?s=20&t=WYT7XxFdERSSCcyIA73GCg
https://www.boston.com/sports/mac-jones/2022/01/26/throwing-coach-tom-house-mac-jones-arm-strength-tom-house/
It seems very likely that Jones can improve, but how much he can improve remains to be seen. But, for him, every little bit will help.
I"m hopeful that House can help maximize Jones' potential, but he (Tom House) went on the same podcast about this time last year and told everyone that Cam Newton's throwing problems were completely caused by issues with his feet that prevented him from planting and throwing properly, and that he was going to come into training camp looking completely different.
The difference is that Mac is young and can still rewire things. House talked about the age range for relearning things with Phil Perry. Cam was out of it. Mac was in it.
This is my feeling too. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Cam was an old washed up dog.
Yeah he needs to work on his body, but job 1 will really be improving his mechanics. If it isn't confirmed who he's working with, it will eventually come out.
The Athletic asked 50 participants at the draft combine the following:
Needing a touchdown in the final minute, what NFL QB do you want leading your team?
Here were the answers--Mac Jones got a vote:
We specifically framed one question as “what current NFL quarterback” do you want leading your team down the field in a last-minute drive, needing a touchdown, and several prospects picked up on the nuance.
“Can it be a recently retired player?”
“Current or slightly retired?”
“Does Tom Brady count?”
“So Brady doesn’t count?”
“The guy most people would say just retired.”
“So Tom Brady doesn’t count?”
“Can I pick Tom Brady?”
No, we coldly told them all, which set up a closely contested battle between Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, who were neck and neck as we tallied the votes.
In the end, Mahomes emerged as the winner, riding a late flurry to finish with 20 votes (40 percent), while Rodgers finished with 16 (32 percent), well ahead of the rest of the field. Not all the votes were wholehearted endorsements, as one player hedged his vote by saying, “I guess in the regular season, I’d have to say Aaron Rodgers.”
In all, seven other quarterbacks earned votes: The Bills’ Josh Allen got four; the Bengals’ Joe Burrow, the Chargers’ Justin Herbert, the Rams’ Matthew Stafford and the Seahawks’ Russell Wilson got two votes each; and the Patriots’ Mac Jones and the Cardinals’ Kyler Murray each picked up a single vote.
Needing a touchdown in the final minute, what NFL QB do you want leading your team?
Here were the answers--Mac Jones got a vote:
We specifically framed one question as “what current NFL quarterback” do you want leading your team down the field in a last-minute drive, needing a touchdown, and several prospects picked up on the nuance.
“Can it be a recently retired player?”
“Current or slightly retired?”
“Does Tom Brady count?”
“So Brady doesn’t count?”
“The guy most people would say just retired.”
“So Tom Brady doesn’t count?”
“Can I pick Tom Brady?”
No, we coldly told them all, which set up a closely contested battle between Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, who were neck and neck as we tallied the votes.
In the end, Mahomes emerged as the winner, riding a late flurry to finish with 20 votes (40 percent), while Rodgers finished with 16 (32 percent), well ahead of the rest of the field. Not all the votes were wholehearted endorsements, as one player hedged his vote by saying, “I guess in the regular season, I’d have to say Aaron Rodgers.”
In all, seven other quarterbacks earned votes: The Bills’ Josh Allen got four; the Bengals’ Joe Burrow, the Chargers’ Justin Herbert, the Rams’ Matthew Stafford and the Seahawks’ Russell Wilson got two votes each; and the Patriots’ Mac Jones and the Cardinals’ Kyler Murray each picked up a single vote.
Last edited:
Okay, thanks. I figured that injured guys might not make the effort, but I guess there's some value in interviewing in person.
EDIT: Oh, a quick google search tells me he's doing more than just talking:
"Alabama wide receiver Jameson Williams doesn't "have a set time" for his return from a torn ACL but has spent his time at the NFL combine showing teams his mobility and walking stability."
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/33405905/alabama-wr-jameson-williams-ahead-schedule-recovery-acl-surgery-nfl-draft-looming
I really hope he’s working with a dietician. There’s some beer weight on that frame that could be dropped to help him with his mobility inside and outside the pocket. I’d love to see him focusing on building a little bit of lean muscle this off-season. Especially in his legs, which will help him drive the ball more. He has room to add a lot of athleticism if he makes the right choices - especially dietary choices - this off-season.
TBH, it’s been almost two months since the season ended and he doesn’t look to be in any better shape than he was coming into last season. Training is a process but in 7-8 weeks you’d hope to see more progress with someone that’s all-in.
Then again, what he does with his physical health and nutrition is his own choice. I just hope he’s taking both more seriously than these weird dance moves in what appears to be a college fitness center.
TBH, it’s been almost two months since the season ended and he doesn’t look to be in any better shape than he was coming into last season. Training is a process but in 7-8 weeks you’d hope to see more progress with someone that’s all-in.
Then again, what he does with his physical health and nutrition is his own choice. I just hope he’s taking both more seriously than these weird dance moves in what appears to be a college fitness center.
I'm not a fitness expert or anything, but man do I hate these fancy compound exercises. Just doesn't seem like an efficient way to build muscle while avoiding injuries.
The thing that bothers me the most is that he is working out at the Bama facility under the guidance of a college strength coach when he has an NFL facility with NFL staff available in Foxboro. Maybe the Bama staff was coordinating with the Patriots staff but it's not a good look. He is not in college anymore and he doesn't live in Alabama so why is he training there.
Guys train all the time with their own guys. I don’t view it much different as having a personal QB coach.
Muscle is one of the ways you build functional kinetic power. The other is mechanics. Obviously guys don't need to be ripped to have a strong arm, but as we've seen that doesn't really come naturally to Mac, so he does need to build some lean muscle mass in my view. Aside from that, I watch that exercise and it just seems mechanically complex, which could lead to a higher chance of injury.
I don't like that particular exercise either. The lower body part is fine but not the upper body finish. It would be a great exercise for training a shot putter, not so much for a QB.
I just don’t see how that specific movement is doing much to help him progress from Y1 to Y2 as an NFL QB. He also doesn’t look fluid doing it at all: he’s putting the cart before the horse by jumping into complex movements that his body isn’t conditioned for. If I’m a Pats S&C coach, watching that video almost gave me a stroke.
Lose a little BF, build some lean muscle, then work on the more dynamic movements. He’s going to blow an Achilles, one of his hip flexors, the labrum in his throwing arm, or his rotator cuff trying to jump too deep into those types of movements.
If I’m Mac I’m lifting moderately heavy this off-season, eating clean, and supplementing with power yoga a couple of times a week. He can play with these types of explosive movements once his baseline mobility has improved.
Lose a little BF, build some lean muscle, then work on the more dynamic movements. He’s going to blow an Achilles, one of his hip flexors, the labrum in his throwing arm, or his rotator cuff trying to jump too deep into those types of movements.
If I’m Mac I’m lifting moderately heavy this off-season, eating clean, and supplementing with power yoga a couple of times a week. He can play with these types of explosive movements once his baseline mobility has improved.
If you’re going to criticize how pro athletes train it’s probably best to have some sense of what and why. First, that weight is too little to injury anyone. It’s microscopic. Second, fast twitch fibers are best trained with 2-3 explosive reps and short rest intervals. Google “westside speed days” for a good primer. Third, if you can’t execute compound movements, then you can’t perform on a field. Fourth, he probably could and will lose some fat and gain some muscle, but he’s got the same body as the Mannings, as Brady as Joe Burrow and probably 70%+ or mlb pitchers. Maybe there are advantages there unknown to you?
Too light? That appears to be a 45 lb plate with either a five or 10 lb rubber plate, plus about 1/3-1/2 of the bar weight. He’s doing some kind of weird modified snatch/overhead press where he’s twisting through his hips and stopping on a dime, loading probably 60-70lbs of that weight directly on his right shoulder, left hip, and pushing through his heel and Achilles. That’s a lot of weight for a kid that’s also probably carrying an excess of 20 lbs of body fat and doesn’t *appear* to have all that much strength and athleticism to begin with.
I know you’ve trained as a boxer and have your own opinions, which you are entitled to. But I also have a very extensive athletic, group training, and personal training background (I work with no less than 110-120 clients every week, including some current and former pro and semi-pro athletes) and would never run a slightly overweight kid through those types of movements.
I understand your comparison to Brady, but Brady was also so dedicated to mobility and flexibility (or as he marketed it, pliability) that IIRC he rarely even touched heavy weights in the second half of his career. But he also had size - naturally - that Mac doesn’t have, which is why I think he should focus on more compound movements with supplemental power yoga to start building more athleticism (without the weights for now).
Any power lifter looks at that weight and rolls their eyes. But in context to Mac’s build, athleticism, age, and the explosiveness of the movement itself, I think that’s an incredibly risky movement for him to be playing with when there are so many other movements that would both protect him physically and help him progress into year 2.
Again, I respect your opinion. We are just looking at it two different ways. Ask any 10 fitness trainers how to best accomplish “X” and you’ll get 10 different answers. But that’s just my 0.02, which may not mean much.
I know you’ve trained as a boxer and have your own opinions, which you are entitled to. But I also have a very extensive athletic, group training, and personal training background (I work with no less than 110-120 clients every week, including some current and former pro and semi-pro athletes) and would never run a slightly overweight kid through those types of movements.
I understand your comparison to Brady, but Brady was also so dedicated to mobility and flexibility (or as he marketed it, pliability) that IIRC he rarely even touched heavy weights in the second half of his career. But he also had size - naturally - that Mac doesn’t have, which is why I think he should focus on more compound movements with supplemental power yoga to start building more athleticism (without the weights for now).
Any power lifter looks at that weight and rolls their eyes. But in context to Mac’s build, athleticism, age, and the explosiveness of the movement itself, I think that’s an incredibly risky movement for him to be playing with when there are so many other movements that would both protect him physically and help him progress into year 2.
Again, I respect your opinion. We are just looking at it two different ways. Ask any 10 fitness trainers how to best accomplish “X” and you’ll get 10 different answers. But that’s just my 0.02, which may not mean much.
I know some higher level college pitchers that would do similar landmine exercises to build arm strength.
I can’t tell the brand, but I doubt that’s a 45. Maybe a 25 max. Even at 45, it’s light weight for a full body exercise that mimics all the muscles that have to fire in sequence to throw a football. I don’t see any danger in the exercise, especially compared to heavy squats and Olympic lifts, not do I think that 15 second clip gives real insight into his total regime nor do I think it makes sense for either of us to really think we know something a D1 strength coach wouldn’t.
The landmine exercise in and of itself is not the problem and it can be a good way to build deltoid strength. However, If you are a pitcher or QB, using that device properly to protect the rotator cuff is key. That means avoiding elevating the shoulder above 90 degrees and lifting slowly. If you watch this guy's video at 1:10, 2:10 and 2:50 you can see what I mean. The weight is only the bar itself or 1 plate and his shoulder never goes above parallel to the floor and this guy has some major delts. That "over elevation" is the part of Mac's exercise that I don't like. Not to mention that the pushing motion at the end has no functional application to throwing. He is elevating beyond 90 and doing so in a poorly controlled manner (too fast). There are many ways to train fast twitch fibers that are safe and functional to strengthen throwing muscles. Mac's exercise is not a particularly good one to accomplish that goal.
Last edited:
I have to weigh in with Marciano here, that exercise is about core strength, stabilization and balance
you wanted explosive because the weight is actually being lifted/propelled above your head by your core can you simply lock out with your triceps at the top there’s very little shoulder that goes into that
So when he’s doing those he is training his core to be explosive which is where the power comes from for throwing athlete
you wanted explosive because the weight is actually being lifted/propelled above your head by your core can you simply lock out with your triceps at the top there’s very little shoulder that goes into that
So when he’s doing those he is training his core to be explosive which is where the power comes from for throwing athlete