There's no position that holds more importance in football than quarterback, and the New England Patriots didn't get great play out of the position last season. Mac Jones, who started in 14 games, struggled in Year 2 and threw for just 2,997 yards with 14 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and an 84.8 passer rating.

Of course, possibly the biggest reason for Jones' regression following a solid rookie season was the Patriots' unusual offensive coaching setup, which had Matt Patricia calling plays and Joe Judge coaching the quarterbacks.

That led to the Patriots going back to the traditional way of doing things, hiring familiar face Bill O'Brien to return as the team's offensive coordinator. In his first weekly appearance on WEEI's “The Greg Hill Show,” Bill Belichick seemed pleased with Jones and the rest of the Patriots' offense's performance to his point.

“Well I think all the quarterbacks have made, I think the whole team has really made a lot of progress since we’ve started in the spring with OTAs, and minicamp, and then training camp,” Belichick said. “We’re doing things a lot better than we did, and we still have a long way to go. That's everybody. Football's a team sport so, whatever one person does is affected by a lot of other people that he's around, and he affects a lot of other people as well.

“It's always a process of timing, coming together, communication, execution. Those are things that are definitely improving. We saw that this was a big week for us with the practice against the Packers, it really helped us, but we still have a lot of work to do. It’s a process, we’re getting there. But we’re definitely not there yet.”

Mac Jones reportedly had a strong day of practice in the second joint session the team had with the Green Bay Packers, making multiple big throws that sparked signs of encouragement that he could rebound in 2023. He looked solid in his preseason debut on Saturday as well, completing 6-of-9 passes for 52 yards as he seemed to handle playing under pressure better than he did last year.

Still, there are still major questions surrounding Jones as he officially begins Year 3 in a couple of weeks. The 2021 first-round pick will be eligible for an extension next offseason, which would likely mean giving him a major payday.

As the Patriots are still likely trying to figure out if Jones is worth a payday similar to what other quarterback received this offseason, Belichick didn't tip his hand when asked if Jones is where he'd expect a third-year quarterback to be.

“Everybody's different, I've coached a couple thousand players, they're all different,” Belichick said. “No two are the same. You take it day-by-day, week-by-week, year-by-year.”

But Belichick also praised the work ethic of his quarterback, along with his backups.

“Mac's got a great routine, he works hard, trains hard, is in here a lot, studies a lot of film, stays on top of things,” Belichick said. “That quarterback room, Trace [McSorley] and Bailey [Zappe] and Mac, they all, that’s a hard-working group. They put in a lot of time, a lot of effort and I respect that.”