Quarterbacks will remain a focus of attention at Patriots practices until the team makes a call about who the starter is going to be this season and it was wide receiver Kendrick Bourne‘s chance to weigh in on two of the candidates on Thursday.
While returning members of the team have familiarity with Cam Newton from last year, Bourne is a free agent so he is getting his first chance to see Newton and first-round pick Mac Jones in action. Bourne told reporters that Jones is carrying himself with more confidence than Bourne would have expected at this stage in his career.
“Mac, good energy. Awesome guy,” Bourne said, via Mark Daniels of the Providence Journal. “You can tell he’s happy to be here. Comes to work and you can just feel his energy and his leadership already. He has a swag to him that I didn’t know that he had. He’s out there confident. That’s what you need in our quarterback and all our players. . . . He’s come in with that [confidence] and I feel like that’s going to take him a long way.”
Bourne had plenty of good things to say about Newton as well. He called the veteran’s energy “amazing” and said the quarterback is “there to push me and pick me up” during the team’s early practice sessions.
With months to go before the regular season, this won’t be the last we hear from Bourne and other Patriots about the two quarterbacks. The ultimate decision will rest with head coach Bill Belichick, however, and he’s unlikely to share too much of his thought process about the choice.
Kendrick Bourne: Mac Jones has swag I didn’t know he had originally appeared on Pro Football Talk