New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones seems to be under the impression that he’s going to try and play against the Green Bay Packers, despite being diagnosed with a “severe” high ankle sprain.
Even coach Bill Belichick has made claims that Jones has made significant progress in the last couple of days in his recovery from an injury that typically takes up to six weeks to heal.
However, a recent report from NFL Network’s Mike Giardi suggests not everyone in the locker room is onboard with the idea of Jones trying to play through the injury in Week 4.
One Patriots player, who Giardi kept anonymous, admitted in a text message that Jones was “hurting pretty good” behind the scenes.
“Love Mac (Jones). Tough, tough, tough guy. But he’s hurting pretty good. Hope everyone’s smart about this. It’s a long season,” the player said, per Giardi.
Text from a #Patriots player, "Love Mac (Jones). Tough, tough, tough guy. But he's hurting pretty good. Hope everyone's smart about this. It's a long season." https://t.co/eJzk3Cc1Yx
— Mike Giardi (@MikeGiardi) September 29, 2022
There was a report earlier in the week that Jones was looking for a second opinion to avoid getting surgery. If he pushes it and comes back too early, he could be opening himself up to a more significant injury.
As much as the Patriots would love to have their starting quarterback on the field, they might be better off erring on the side of caution against a Packers team that was going to be heavily favored regardless of who was under center.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqby79hc76t2s390 player_id=none image=https://patriotswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
[listicle id=128176]