Baker says Mac Jones has similar story to Tom Brady, and ‘that story is constantly being underestimated’
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Governor Charlie Baker on Friday drew comparisons between former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and Mac Jones, the signal caller whom the Pats selected in the first round of the NFL draft on Thursday night.
Baker was asked about Jones during a briefing at Galvin Middle School in Canton, where he announced over $70 million in funding for summer learning programs statewide.
The governor said he tuned into the draft after watching the Bruins Thursday night and, like many fans, was surprised to see Jones, who led the Alabama Crimson Tide to a national title in January, remained on the board when the Patriots made the 15th pick in the draft.
“But the thing I admire most about this selection and about the fit with the Patriots is, Mac Jones has sort of the same story that Tom Brady had coming out of high school, in college, and that story is constantly being underestimated and, in many respects, disrespected” by people in the game, Baker said.
“And I think one of the things that we learned from Tom Brady over the years was, there’s nothing quite like somebody who always feels like they have something to prove, and Mac Jones is clearly that kind of a player, and his performance at Alabama was mind boggling,” Baker said.
The governor’s comments about disrespect notwithstanding, it’s worth noting that Jones comes into the league with far more hype than Brady, who was taken in the sixth round before leading the Patriots to six Super Bowl championships.
Baker also addressed the state’s ongoing COVID-19 vaccination rollout, which to date has seen more than 2.4 million residents fully inoculated against the virus.
“We do have some good news in Massachusetts on vaccinations,” Baker said. “We’re number one in the country in the percentage of our population that’s been first dosed and fully dosed among all states that have more than 5 million people. And we’re to the point now where two thirds of our adult population … [has] actually had at least one dose. And many of the populations that we worry most about — the people over the age of 75, the people over the age of 65, the folks with two co-morbidities — the vast majority of those folks at this point are fully dosed here in the Commonwealth.”
Case counts and hospitalizations have dipped since the vaccination numbers have gone up, he continued.
He said it’s “almost a sure thing” that another 1.3 million residents will become fully vaccinated over the course of the next few weeks.
“And the more progress we make on that, honestly, the safer the Commonwealth becomes for everybody,” Baker said.
It’s no longer elderly people being primarily hospitalized with COVID-19, Baker added.
“Most of the folks who are ending up in the hospital at this point in time are under the age of 60, which we had not seen at any point since the start of this pandemic,” Baker said. “And that is very much a function of the fact that the vaccines work, and they’ve worked especially well on those folks in populations where the vast majority have gotten vaccinated, which in many cases are the older folks here in Massachusetts.”
In addition, Baker said questions remain about when children under 16 will be eligible to get their shots.
“We know that there’s currently a review being done by the FDA that involves a clinical trial that took place with Pfizer … for kids over the age of 12,” he said. “We expect at some point we’ll hear from the FDA on what the results of that are.”