Marcus Jones has a brand new sparring accomplice in follow. It’s rookie receiver Demario Douglas.

Patriots

“We’ve simply been going at it each single time, every time I see him, I’m making an attempt to go towards him, he’s making an attempt to go towards me, we’re simply making an attempt to make one another higher.”

If there’s any participant on the Patriots roster who is aware of about velocity and quickness, it’s Marcus Jones.

He was the one Patriot chosen as a First-Workforce All-Professional final season. His skill to show the burners on makes him a risk to attain in all three phases of the sport.

And there’s a rookie receiver whom Jones seeks out throughout follow to hone these expertise towards. It’s sixth-round decide Demario Douglas from Liberty.

“He’s a fast man, for certain,” Jones mentioned. “We’ve simply been going at it each single time, every time I see him, I’m making an attempt to go towards him, he’s making an attempt to go towards me, we’re simply making an attempt to make one another higher.”

Douglas has had a powerful camp to date, showcasing his quickness in one-on-ones and scrimmages.

He’s earned reps with each Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe. Based on Mark Daniels of MassLive, Douglas has 23 catches via 12 days of coaching camp scrimmages, greater than every other Patriots receiver.

He’s additionally bulked up fairly a bit over the previous few years. The 5-foot-8 receiver started his school profession at 149 kilos. He’s now listed on the Patriots roster at 192 kilos.

“I all the time had that mentality of: I have to get higher, I have to do one thing,” Douglas mentioned. “So, I believed my weight was an issue. I’d say my top, however I can’t change that. As I used to be going via my years, I stored gaining and gaining. My coaches at Liberty helped me, exhibiting me learn how to eat proper, and eat to achieve weight whereas sustaining my velocity and issues like that.”

The speedy rookie has continued to point out the optimistic traits that the Patriots noticed once they scouted him on the Shrine Bowl, broad receivers coach Ross Douglas mentioned.

“Plenty of the identical issues that we noticed on the Shrine recreation are the identical belongings you guys see in follow, simply his skill to make folks miss,” Ross Douglas advised reporters final week. “He’s an excellent route runner, and he does quite a lot of issues effectively, however he’s nonetheless very, very younger so we’ve bought a protracted strategy to go. He’s not a refined product, he’s not completed, however he’s off to an excellent begin.”

Jones echoed Ross Douglas’s feedback concerning the rookie’s route operating.

“He’s doing actually good with the best way that he stems and issues like that and likewise taking teaching,” Jones mentioned. “Coaches say one thing one time and he’s proper on it making an attempt to excellent it. So, that’s an important factor to have.”

Douglas started his Patriots profession with a robust two-week stretch on the opening of coaching camp. Now, it’s about sustaining consistency as he continues to carve out a task with the receiving corps.

“I haven’t seen a large enough pattern but, so I’ll put him in a bucket with the remainder of the rookies,” Patriots receivers coach Troy Brown mentioned. “They’ve bought a methods to go and a few issues to undergo earlier than they begin proving themselves worthy.

“However, I feel they’ve all progressed since camp began. I feel early coaching camp actually helped all of them and actually helped him get a head begin on our group and he’s actually used it to his benefit.”