Mac Jones: "My life is football"

FOXBORO -- After a whirlwind year in 2021, Mac Jones finally got some time to relax after his rookie season. Yet even as he enjoyed his first real offseason from football in a long while, the game was never far from his mind.

"I think it's good to always take some time off, but at the end of the day, we're always working, always trying to get better, whether you're on vacation or not -- or whatever you want to call it. You're trying to fix the things that you wish you could've done better the year before," Jones told reporters after the Patriots' first training camp session of 2022. "I've always tried to do that. As a little kid in Pop Warner: 'What did I do bad last year that I could do better? All right, let's work on it in the offseason.' So it's that simple."

While such a persistent thought process is naturally a bit taxing, Jones explained why he doesn't see it that way.

"You obviously have to -- you have a life, but at the end of the day, my life is football. And a lot of guys on our team, our lives are football," Jones said. "So we're constantly thinking about football, thinking about what we have in store, so it's sometimes hard to look ahead too much. But you kind of want to just be where your feet are and focus on those days to get stronger, get faster, all that stuff."

The second-year quarterback obviously impressed head coach Bill Belichick upon arriving in the spring, with the coach seeing some "dramatic improvement" out of Jones. Belichick's not alone, though, as Jones' teammates spent Wednesday praising their quarterback for bringing his unique personality to the facility.

Jones said he's just fitting in.

"I don't know, I think just being myself, like you said. Everyone brings their own personality to the table, and for me, I always think football is fun, and it always will be. But it's all about competing and winning as the most important thing. Winning is fun," Jones said. "So, we learned last year what winning felt like. But we also learned what losing felt like. So we want to be able to combine having fun during practice, but also competing, putting good plays together, and everyone brings a different piece to the table. And from there, we just put it together, and when the games come, they come. But we just take it day by day, and just be yourself."