FOXBOROUGH - It had been nearly two years since Marcus Jones last touched the ball on offense for the Patriots when he took an end-around for five yards against the Rams last Sunday. The explosive returner and cornerback has had his hands full this season on special teams and defense, and was an afterthought on offense, but in recent weeks he knew he could still offer more to the team and that was when he picked up his phone and sent offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt a text message.

"I got a text from Marcus Jones, and I'm going back in my mind, like Marcus would just come and sit and talk to me in the building. I would think so. I was Googling Marcus Jones's and there was a guy 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," relayed Van Pelt on Thursday of the genesis of Jones' return to the offensive side of the ball. "So, 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, his ability to see the field. So, try to find some plays just to get our guys in best position to make plays. And felt like he would give us a little spark there."

Jones played just two games in 2023, after having four catches as a rookie that included an electric 48-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown against the Bills. With an entirely new offensive coaching staff taking over, Jones took it upon himself to reach out to Van Pelt.

"Yeah, I just basically told him it was just one of those situations to where, I like the offensive side, but I'm always defensive guy," said Jones. "So you can tell the coach one thing, but that doesn't mean it will happen. So, I mean, it was great to get back on the offensive side and everything like that."

Jones will certainly give future opponents a renewed threat to consider over the team's last six games, as Van Pelt looks to continue to expand his usage.

"I always want guys that are self-starters and 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," said Van Pelt. "He obviously has a special skillset, and his return game is as good as there is, so as many times as we can use him to put the ball in his hands, or maybe use him as a decoy, we'll see. But, you know, he does bring some value and some benefit. After last week's game, really excited about maybe moving forward with him."

Strange Talks Recovery, Center Reps

Cole Strange returned to practice on Wednesday after spending the first four months of the season rehabbing from a major injury that came late in 2023 just as Strange was starting to put together some of the best football of his career.

On Thursday, Strange detailed his journey back as well as where things could be headed positionally in the future.

"It's been a lot longer than I wanted it to be," said Strange. "Honestly, it's been really tough and very aggravating, but I don't know, I think it's been a good perspective. Obviously, I would have never wanted this to happen, but the silver lining is I think it gave me a very good perspective and [made me] more appreciative of where I am."

The 2022 first-round pick was a limited participant in his initial practices as he just made a significant step forward but will continued to take it day-by-day as he gets fully back into the flow.

"I felt a little awkward yesterday doing the drills," said Strange. "But then, when we went on the film and I watched myself, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was. So it felt awkward, but I just have to get back into the swing of it. And honestly, I felt like it looked a lot better than I thought it would."

It was a long road back to the field for Strange, but he attacked his rehab like he had previously attacked his goal of playing in the NFL.

"Everything that I had to relearn to do... walk, squatting, jumping, running... it felt very awkward at first, but I just kept hammering away at it, and I feel good, so I'm confident the same thing will happen," said Strange, adding the biggest lesson he learned was that he "needed football more than I thought I did. You know, I've always loved it, but not having it, I just did not like that at all."

Aside from the timetable of his return to the gamefield, the biggest question is where he'll be playing. Strange was a guard in college and in his first two seasons with the Patriots, but with veteran David Andrews lost for the season, there's speculation that Strange could look to transition inside to the center spot.

"We'll just see where he plugs into those inside three spots, where he's most comfortable," said Alex Van Pelt in assessing where Strange will fit in. "Obviously, he's played a lot of guard. I believe they had maybe circled him as a potential center when they brought him in. I see center qualities in him, body type. We'll just see where he's at, glad to have him back out there. I know he worked hard to get back, the next few weeks will kind of determine where he goes."

"I have a little bit of background [at center]," said Strange. "Played a little bit in college, played center at the Senior Bowl. I feel pretty comfortable about it.

"I do sit in the meetings and envision myself making the call as quick as I can, but you have the bird's eye view in the meeting, so it's different being out there, and it's different whenever you've got the cadence that you need to remember, you've got the play and also the check, and you got to remember it all and do it like that. But I'll figure it out. I just got to get some reps at it."

Speedy Solutions

There's been plenty of praise for Miami's speed this week and on Thursday defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington and defensive backs Marcus Jones and Christian Gonzalez continued to describe how the Patriots defense can deal with it.

"One word to describe this team, fast and they're an efficient offense, especially with Tua back there," said Covington. "A team that likes to run the ball outside, throw the ball inside, and the team that has plenty of playmakers to get the ball in their hands. So definitely got our work cut out for us.

"Tua's able to get the ball out on time. He knows exactly where he wants to go and then the accuracy of his passes. He has playmakers that can make some plays... catch the ball, run with it and create some explosive plays for him. So that's really the key for him, and he's got a good presence in the pocket so he feels the rush, takes off when he needs to take off but can stand back there in the pocket, and deliver the throw."

Jones and Gonzalez will be two of the defensive backs tasked with covering the explosive playmakers around Tagovailoa.

"The good thing is that we've played these guys before, but we're always going to make sure that we treat them as a new opponent," said Marcus Jones. "So the main thing is that they didn't have Tua at the time. Having him back in the system, you can kind of tell their their timing is very good and everything. So, that's one of those things to where we got to get our hands on as much as we can to mess up that timing, but we just got to play our football."

"It's whole different speed out there on that field," said Gonzalez. "They change the game so much. You know, they got a great deal of receivers, and, you know, they even got, they got Odell over there. He brings a lot of veteran knowledge to the game in that room, and then that whole receiving room, and including the backs. The backs are just as fast, so they get them involved a lot. So I mean, we have a lot of challenges every time we play Miami. But, I mean, it's fun. We look forward to it."

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