Jaguars QB Mac Jones on starting opportunity: “Just let it rip”

Jacksonville coach Doug Pederson said it’s increasingly looking like Mac Jones will be the Jaguars’ starting quarterback Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. If that’s the case, Pederson said he’s confident the former Alabama All-American can get the job done against Trevor Lawrence.

“He’s someone who prepares extremely hard and extremely well,” Pederson said. “He’s a smart boy. Go back to some of the preseason stuff and what he was doing back then as far as preparation and all that and how he played. He’ll be fine. He will of course be thrilled – home game, home crowd, home fans, his people, so to speak. But a lot of trust in him.”

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

“He was very limited all week,” Pederson said Friday. “The trend is obviously not to play or to be inclined not to play. …

“If you don’t get any reps during the week, it’s just difficult. And that’s the case with any player, but I think especially at the quarterback position.”

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

“He was a starter in this league,” Pederson said. “He did that. I would be different if it was a rookie, a real rookie who might have to play and you’re trying to prepare that person. But with Mac, I saw it this week just from the conversation and how he handled the offense in practice and the reps he got and the communication there. It’s different, but at the same time it gives a coach a little bit of reassurance that this is an experienced player who has been there and done it.”

Jones said he is ready to play if needed.

“It’s NFL football,” Jones said, “and as a backup quarterback you have to be ready and you plan your week like a rookie, so I’ve been fortunate enough to kind of adjust that every week.” Find out what for me works to feel confident on Sunday, and whether you take the first snap, whether you take 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 feel comfortable,” and I feel like I’ve gotten the reps visually, or however I get them, and you just let it rip from there.”

Jones has started 42 NFL regular season games and one playoff contest, rushing for 8,946 yards and 46 touchdowns. But he played just 17 snaps in 2024 and completed 6 of 9 passes for 28 yards. However, Jones said the preparation before the start of the season is still with him.

“Especially in the OTAs and preseason, the reps are really fairly divided and you get a lot of experience,” Jones said, “and I was lucky enough to have those minicamp days where I was the only quarterback and ran the offense , and you.” When I look back at those reps in the preseason and how we played on offense, I’m proud of that. …

“We’ll see how it goes.”