FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – New England Patriots quarterback Cam Newton did not train on Thursday due to a right hand injury and a first-round pick Mac Jones mostly worked behind Jarrett stidham and veteran Brian hoyer as he prepares for a possible training camp competition in late July.

“I’m the rookie, so I learn from them. We’re all in the same boat. There’s competition but people want to have a word misinterpreted as if it’s bad competition or unhealthy, ”Jones said. “We’re all close. We’re all going to get better. That’s what we’re going to do.”

How quickly Jones improves and gets into position to be the starter is understandably a hot topic in New England after the Patriots selected him 15th overall, the first time coach Bill Belichick picked. a quarterback in the first round.

Belichick often points out that spring is a great time to teach and the real competition begins when training camp begins in late July. He previously declared Newton the team’s best quarterback, saying time will tell if anyone will challenge him. Meanwhile, Jones called Newton a “good mentor” to him.

“He calls me ‘Mac and Cheese’ so I have my nickname,” he said, adding that Stidham and Hoyer had also helped him in the movie theater as he tried to keep himself. measure up to them to master the playbook.

“They can do it really fast. My goal is, hopefully, to be able to do it even faster every day and I’ve tried to do it. It’s kind of like second nature to them. I have to figure out how. do it quickly and run the games very quickly to a level in a new offense. “

Evaluating his own progress, Jones, 22, admitted he had had good days and then bad.

“It won’t be perfect every day. It’s tough when you’re competitive and want it to be really good every day. It won’t be like that at first. Eventually you get the hang of it and things start to change. as you wish. ”he said. “I think it just comes down to following my rules and there’s a lot going on in my brain. You just try to see everything. Sometimes you see too much or whatever. And then you don’t see anything. So I have to. figure out, in this offense, how I can do it – how I can break down the games, what is my job, what should I do on this specific game, and then rank the games individually.

“Obviously I did it in college, or whatever, but they’re the pros and I have to figure out how to do it here.”

Jones, who led Alabama to the national championship last season while competing with a record 77.4% of his passes, described how he approached each day.

“I kind of have two buckets. Things that I know in one bucket, and things that I keep messing up – or things that I don’t understand – I have to put them in another bucket and figure out. what’s wrong, “he said. “You have to improve on the bad and keep the good in the good.”

The Patriots are scheduled to take part in a final voluntary team activity on Friday, then attend their mandatory three-day minicamp starting Monday.

As for what Belichick saw of Jones’ learning of the playbook, he said, “Mac is working at it like everyone else and all of these guys have a lot to learn and absorb and it just keeps adding up every day. . But as a group they have worked hard and we are moving forward … things are moving in the right direction. “