Jaguars QB Mac Jones on starting opportunity: ‘You just go let it rip’

Jacksonville coach Doug Pederson said it's looking more and more as though Mac Jones will be the Jaguars' starting quarterback on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. If that's the case, Pederson said he's confidence the former Alabama All-American can get the job done in place on Trevor Lawrence.

"He's somebody that prepares extremely hard, extremely well," Pederson said . "He's a smart kid. You go back to even some of the preseason stuff and what he did then as far as preparation and all that and how he played. He's going to be fine. He'll be excited, obviously – home game, home crowd, home fans, his people, so to speak. But a lot of confidence in him."

Lawrence has an injury to his non-throwing shoulder and has been a limited participant in practice this week. Jacksonville's injury report lists his status as questionable for Sunday's game.

"He's been very limited all week," Pederson said on Friday. "It is trending, obviously, in a way that's probably to not playing or leaning towards not playing. ...

"If you're not getting the reps during the week, it's just hard to go. And it's with any player, but I think at the quarterback position, especially."

A Jacksonville native, Jones joined the Jaguars in March in a trade with the New England Patriots. A first-round draft pick of the Patriots in 2021, Jones served as New England's starter when healthy until being benched with six games remaining in the 2023 NFL season.

"He's been a starter in this league," Pederson said . "He's done that. I'd be different if it was a rookie, a true rookie that was having to maybe play, and you're trying to get that person ready. But with Mac, this week I've seen it with just the conversation and how he's worked with the offense in practice and the reps he's gotten and the communication there. It's different, but at the same time for a coach it gives you a little bit of peace of mind that this is a veteran player that has kind of been there and done it."

Jones said he would be ready to play if needed.

"It's NFL football," Jones said , "and as a backup quarterback, you got to be ready, and, you know, you plan out your week like a starter, so I've been fortunate to kind of adjust that each week and figure out what works for me, to feel confident on Sunday, and whether you're taking the first snap, you're taking 10 snaps, zero, 50, 60, 70, it doesn't matter, but you have to have that mentality of, 'Hey, I did all the work, and I feel comfortable,' and I feel like I've gotten the reps visually, or however I get them, and then from there, you just go let it rip."

Jones has started 42 NFL regular-season games and one playoff contest and thrown for 8,946 yards and 46 touchdowns. But he's taken only 17 snaps and completed 6-of-9 passes for 28 yards in 2024. But Jones said the preparation before the season started is still with him.

"Just in OTAs and preseason, the reps are divvied up really fairly and you get a lot of experience," Jones said , "and I was fortunate to have those minicamp days where I was the only quarterback and go through the offense, and you look back on those reps in the preseason and how we were operating as an offense and I pride myself in that. ...

"We'll see how it goes."

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The Jaguars play the Vikings at noon CST Sunday at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.

Minnesota has a 6-2 record. The Jaguars are 2-7, with the two victories coming in the games in which Jacksonville scored more than 27 points.

"It's just going to click one of these days," Jones said of the Jaguars offense, "and we just got to keep bringing the juice and execution. And once you do that together as 11 people, then good things will happen. And you can't really chase it. You can't drink a magic potion or something. You got to just do the hard work and trust each other and that will happen."

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