Patriots quarterback Mac Jones clearly left a good impression on Josh McDaniels during their one season working together in New England.

Ahead of Friday's preseason game between the Patriots and the now McDaniels-led Raiders, Jones' NFL offensive coordinator had high praise for him.

“Love that kid. I really do,” McDaniels said Wednesday. “And spent a lot of time with him, obviously, last year. Great human being, got a bright future.

“Really competitive guy that wants to do it right — everything, wants to do everything right. Those are always things that are difficult, you know, when [coaches] leave and you go somewhere else, and there's going to be people that you miss maybe more than others, but you're going to miss them all.”

Jones and the Patriots' offense has had a bit of a rough training camp in their first-year post-McDaniels. Tuesday's joint practice with the Raiders was no exception. Jones completed roughly half his passes, throwing a touchdown and a pick during team drills.

However, Jones was able to get the last laugh over his former coach. He connected with Patriots receiver Kendrick Bourne on a touchdown pass to end Tuesday's practice.

Even though he's no longer Jones' coach, McDaniels was encouraged by what he saw from his former player.

“Saw him yesterday, battling, and that's basically what happens at this time of the year,” McDaniels said. “I thought he made some really good plays and there's some other situations where we're trying to make it as hard as we can on him. And they obviously got the better of us there at the end. Finishing practice was a huge point of emphasis for us, and we obviously didn't finish it as well as they did on either side of the ball.

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“But I think the world of the kid, I really do.”

Jones stated when McDaniels was hired by the Raiders in February how happy he was for him.

“Just from the first time we met, he’s just a great mentor to me and obviously taught me a lot about the game of football,” Jones said in February. “Not just the offense but the defense. And made me a better person too.

“He’s a great offensive mind. He does a great job of coaching everybody from the linemen to the skill players. He deserves the job, and he’s going to do a great job.”

In his first professional interaction with his former offensive coordinator since the end of last season, Jones was happy to see McDaniels again during this week's joint practices ahead of Friday's game.

“Whether that’s between Alabama (where Jones played in college) or the Patriots, I’m very fortunate everywhere we go I have at least a teammate or two, or a coach, or somebody,” Jones said Wednesday.  Obviously, they have a great coaching staff. You can tell our coaching staffs respect one another and the players do, too. So it was just good, healthy competition and we just have to carry that over to the game and see how that goes.”

Not only was jones happy to see McDaniels and a few of his former coaches on Wednesday, he was also happy with how practice went.

The Patriots' offense bounced back on Wednesdays. Jones reportedly completed 20 of 25 passes throughout team drills, tossing a pair of touchdown passes to Jakobi Meyers before throwing another touchdown pass to Hunter Henry on the final play of team drills.

It isn't known yet if Jones and the rest of the Patriots' starters will play in Friday's preseason finale. Early speculation suggests that most of the starters, including Jones, will get some playing time against the Raiders though because many of them sat out the first preseason game.

Friday won't be the only time Jones and the Patriots face McDaniels' Raiders this season. The two teams will meet again in Vegas in Week 15.