FOXBOROUGH - For months and months, the Patriots talked about how this new regime would be collaborative. They said it so often that my eyes glazed over after a while because, okay, I got it. But if that is your mantra, explain to me how this next thing happened.
It took a text message two weeks ago - this is November now - from Marcus Jones to Alex Van Pelt to let the offensive coordinator of this football team know that Jones could and had played offense in the National Football League.
"Because he called and asked," said Van Pelt Thursday morning. "Seriously. He did. I got a text from Marcus Jones, and I'm going back in my mind like Marcus would just come and talk to me in the building, I would think. I was Googling Marcus Jones's, and there was a guy who came through Green Bay for a cup of coffee. I'm like, why would he be texting me? And then one of our coaches came and said, Marcus is trying to get a hold of you.
"I watched 19 plays of his that he's done here as an offensive player. He obviously brings a lot of juice, tremendous ball carrier, speed, and his ability to see the field. So, try to find some plays just to get our guys in the best position to make plays. And felt like he would give us a little spark there. You know, we'll see how it goes moving forward."
Did Van Pelt not turn to Jones earlier because the timing wasn't right?
"No. That was the first it had come to my attention that he had played offensive plays," he relayed. "And, you know, I'm glad that he did it."
Say what?
Mind you, a good portion of the defensive coaching staff was here in 2022 when Jones got offensive snaps as a rookie, including Jerod Mayo, DeMarcus Covington, Mike Pellegrino, and Brian Belichick. Receivers coach Tyler Hughes had the nebulous role of offensive assistant that year. None of them felt compelled - at any point - to let Van Pelt in on this secret? That's not collaborative. That's a failure - a systematic failure - to do the most basic of things, communicate.
"He texted me late in the week, the week before, and it was too late to get anything into that game plan, so I grabbed him late in that week and said we'd have some stuff up for you next week," explained Van Pelt. "But I always want guys that are self-starters that want to be a part of it, so I was really appreciative for him to offer his duties up to us on the offensive side."
We had asked Jones several times, dating back to the spring, about possibly playing more offense and if he was interested in that. The third-year pro would always default to saying he was a defensive player first, and that's where his focus is. But he finally felt compelled to shoot that text.
"It was always one of those situations to where I'm always open to it," he said when I asked why now. "So, just a casual reminder."
Jones played 18 offensive snaps as a rookie in 2022. He had four receptions for 78 yards and a touchdown off a bubble screen. He added one snap last year and carried the ball for five yards in his only snap on Sunday. I expect him to get more than a single offensive snap in Miami.
"It was great," smiled Jones of getting that opportunity again. "First off, you know, just being able to have the coaches trust me to end up being on the other side of the ball is a great thing. So, I'm just taking it one day at a time."
When Covington was asked about seeing his starting cornerback getting run on the other side of the ball, he compared Jones to the Heisman Trophy frontrunner.
"People talk about Travis Hunter. That's Marcus," he said. "Marcus did that in college, too."
Jones played a smaller role for the University of Houston than Hunter is doing for Colorado, catching 10 passes for 109 yards and a touchdown in his final season with the Cougars. He was flattered by the comparison.
"Him doing that, man, that's crazy, especially all the snaps and everything, playing on both sides," he said. "But I wasn't the first Travis. Jabril Peppers (still on the Commissioner's exempt list) was at Michigan. He was playing all over the place, and then I did it whenever I was in college a little bit. But kudos to him and everything. And I hope he'll be able to do it in the league and everything like that, as much as he can, for sure."
You can bet everyone in whatever organization that drafts Hunter will know that he's done both and done them at a high level collegiately. I'd like to think they would here as well, however, this is just the latest example of something important falling through the cracks in Foxborough. Hardly a confidence builder.