SANTA CLARA — Mac Jones was bobbing and weaving, doing his best not to divulge too much information regarding his health.
During the brief media window during practice Thursday, the most able-bodied quarterback on the roster was Adrian Martinez. The other thrower was quarterbacks coach Mick Lombardi. Jones is playing with a heavy knee brace and is dealing with an oblique injury that happened late in a 26-21 win over the Los Angeles Rams a week earlier.
It turns out Jones wound up not throwing at all.
“He wasn’t able (to throw) today so he just focused on handoffs and stuff like that,” coach Kyle Shanahan said on KNBR-680. “Really tried to rest it up. Should be able to go on Sunday, but definitely wasn’t good enough to go today. Hopefully that’ll continue to improve.”
He was listed as a limited participant. Starter Brock Purdy did not participate and isn’t expected to play Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, putting Jones in line for his third straight start and fourth of the season.
“Mick wanted to go out there and play quarterback and he looked pretty good,” Jones said. “I was just trying to save some throws. There’s a lot of volume out thee and you’ve got to be ready for Sunday so taking it day by day.”
The question was posed to Jones whether he would play if the game was today.
“The game’s not today, right?,” Jones said. “I don’t do theoretical questions but I definitely feel like I have a good plan in place. The game’s on Sunday and we’ll see how I feel when I get there.”
In the same way Jones deflected talk of his health, he also fended off questions about the toughness it took to complete the Rams game when it appeared he wouldn’t. Jones had cramps in his knee and throwing arm, combating them with bananas and pickle juice.
General manager John Lynch said the knee cramp that left him lying on the field was misidentified on the sideline as a serious knee injury, with coaches getting Martinez ready to take over.
“I just think every game is different,” Jones said. “In that game ,I knew it was going to take a lot of toughness and just taking it one play at a time. If you can protect yourself I think you should be in the game.”
Jones’ success of late has Nick Saban, his college coach at Alabama, resurrecting stories about Jones’ formerly volatile practice personality. Saban said on ESPN’s “College Gameday” he called Jones “McEnroe” because of his tennis background and because of his penchant for getting upset on the field when he made mistakes.
“I need to call him because I thought we’d graduated from that,” Jones said. “He brings that up every year. Get a new joke or something. Next time I see him I’ll ip him just like he used to ip me.”
Jones credited Saban with helping him with his mental game.
“I definitely had to work on that and he actually helped me with that,” he said. “I hope the next time he talks about it, he’ll talk about the progress I made from my freshman to sophomore year working with different people and having conversations on how I can get my mental game better.”
Jones’ father Gordon played tennis at Florida State, his mother Holly played tennis at Mercer University and his sister Sarah Jane played at College of Charleston.
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Offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak is of the opinion that the movements in tennis are transferable to football.
“We happen to think the way a guy moves in tennis and Mac’s tennis background can help you as a thrower,” Kubiak said.
Jones said his father had him simulating serves to help his football throwing motion and found the footwork similar as well.
“You can be playing on clay and you slide around or you’re playing on a hardcourt and be firm with your footing,” Jones said. “Running to the ball, you’ve got to have some hand-eye coordination. It’s all reaction-based. I haven’t played tennis in a while but I do feel like it helps me.”