Don't expect Mac Jones to watch many "Sunday Night Football" matchups this season. He'll already be in bed.
During CBS' broadcast of the New England Patriots' Week 8 matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers, play-by-play announcer Ian Eagle revealed an interesting conversation his production team had with Jones about the rookie quarterback's in-season sleep schedule.
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"We were talking to Mac Jones, just asking him, 'Hey, how are you feeling?' And he said, 'Well, this is the latest I've been up for a while' just because of the time change,'" Eagle recalled, referring to Jones' adjustment to West Coast time ahead of Sunday's game in Los Angeles. (Hat tip to NESN's Zack Cox.)
"But when we asked him, 'What's your normal bedtime?' He said, '8:30 at night. I get up at 4:45 in the morning. I want to be at the facility by 6:30. By the time I get there, there are already 100 cars in the parking lot.' "
That's a crazy early wakeup time for Jones. But it sounds like the Patriots rookie still gets about eight hours of sleep -- unlike former New England QB Cam Newton, who reportedly went to bed around 11:30 p.m. and was up by 4:20 a.m. while with the team.
We shouldn't be surprised that Jones gets up before dawn as he works to improve as an NFL quarterback. We also shouldn't be surprised that many of head coach Bill Belichick's players and staffers beat him the facility.
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Oh, and in case you're wondering: Jones' sleep schedule is pretty close to that of Tom Brady, who gets about nine hours of sleep per night by tucking in at 9 p.m. and rising at 6 a.m.
"Sleep is all about recovering," Brady told GQ in a 2016 interview. "And if you’re going to break your body down a lot, you better find ways to build it back up. And the only way to do that is get a lot of sleep."
Jones' routine appears to be working: The Alabama product entered Sunday leading all rookie passers in completions (174), completion percentage (70.4), yards (1,779) and passing touchdowns (nine).