Mac Jones is about to begin his third NFL season as the New England Patriots quarterback, and it’s hard to say the former Alabama All-American hasn’t labored in Tom Brady’s shadow during his previous two years.

It’s a long shadow, and the quarterback who casts it will be at Gillette Stadium in Sunday afternoon when Jones and the Patriots kick off their 2023 regular-season schedule against the Philadelphia Eagles.

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Brady left New England after the 2019 season and retired from the NFL after the 2022 campaign. On Sunday, the Patriots will have Brady back in Foxborough, Massachusetts, for the “Thank You, Tom” game and honor their former quarterback during a halftime ceremony.

Brady helped the Patriots win the Super Bowl six times and the AFC championship nine times while earning 14 Pro Bowl invitations, four Super Bowl MVP awards and three NFL MVP awards.

While Jones must carry the weight of Brady’s 20 seasons with New England and has never played with the future Hall of Famer, he considers Brady a mentor.

“He’s definitely a legend,” Jones said during an appearance on “Jones and Mego” on WEEI-FM in Boston on Tuesday. “I have all the respect for him. He’s a great guy. He’s actually helped me a lot already just talking to him or whatever. He’s been a great mentor and stuff. He’s a great player. Love watching his film. He pops up on game tape, obviously, from last year and everything, too. He’s always on the film doing the right thing, so just trying to learn from him. He’s been awesome.”

Jones said he’s learned from Brady in ways beyond talking quarterback-to-quarterback.

“I think, whether it was (former backup QB Brian) Hoyer that was here, whoever, you meet a lot of people that have known him and everything, the stories and everything, too, so that always helps,” Jones said. “Just being able to learn from that.

“He’s always on the film, like I said, so just watching the footwork, the timing, his operation of everything, so he’s definitely the greatest to do it, and that’s why you want to watch him and learn.”

In his first season with the Patriots, Brady played in one game. In his first season with New England, Jones started every game for a playoff team and went to the Pro Bowl.

In his second season, Brady was the MVP of the Patriots’ 20-17 victory over the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. In his second season, Jones sat out three games and most of another because of an ankle injury as New England missed the playoffs with an offense that sank from sixth to 17th in points scored among the NFL’s 32 teams from 2021 to 2022.

On Monday, Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Jones had prepared well with new offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien for the 2023 season.

“Mac’s had a good offseason and has had a really good camp,” Belichick said. “He comes to work every day, comes in early, stays late, works hard, understands the offense — how it works, how to get his teammates involved, how to help them be productive. So he’s had a really good stretch here in training camp and had a good spring to propel himself into this time period, so it’s been pretty consistent all the way through.”

Brady has been at Gillette Stadium once since he left the Patriots in free agency.

In 2021, Brady moved the Tampa Bay Buccaneers into position for a field goal with 1:57 to play in a 19-17 victory over New England.

That game was the fourth of Jones’ career. While Brady completed 22-of-43 passes for 269 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions, Jones went 31-of-40 for 275 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Nick Folk missed a 56-yard field-goal attempt to end the Patriots’ final possession.

“I’ve always said, like, you’re not really going against the other quarterback,” Jones said. “It’s kind of hard to say that. You’re actually going against the other defense, so at the end of the day we’re never on the field at the same time, but you have to respect who’s on the other side of the ball and really just play your game and take the emotion out of it and just go out there and just try and do your thing.”

New England and Philadelphia will square off at 3:25 p.m. CDT Sunday.

Jones will be across the field from Jalen Hurts. His teammate during the 2017 and 2018 seasons at Alabama will begin his third season as the Eagles’ quarterback after leading Philadelphia to the NFC championship and finishing as the runner-up for the NFL MVP Award last season.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.