The Jacksonville Jaguars practiced with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Wednesday and Thursday in advance of their NFL preseason game on Saturday. That put Mac Jones and Baker Mayfield on the same field. But are they on the same path?

Both quarterbacks were first-round draft picks, started as rookies, then lost their No. 1 status and were traded. That’s how Jones got to Jacksonville, competing to be Trevor Lawrence’s backup after three seasons with the New England Patriots.

Mayfield threw for 4,044 yards and 28 touchdowns for the Bucs in 2023 and went to the Pro Bowl Games.

But in 2022, Mayfield played for two teams. After acquiring Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans, the Cleveland Browns traded Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers. Released by Carolina, Mayfield finished the season with the Los Angeles Rams as a waiver-wire claim.

“Baker’s journey, something that’s inspiring for me and a lot of quarterbacks,” Jones said on Thursday. “You know, it’s not going to be perfect from the start to the finish. He might go up and down, and then he kind of found his little home, so, hopefully, that can be inspiration for me and many others, and, obviously, I’m focused on right now being on this team, and being great. …

“We talked a little bit, and I just enjoy watching quarterbacks’ journeys, and everyone’s is different, and I can definitely find motivation from that one, and maybe I’ll pick his brain a little bit more. But he’s a great quarterback who’s fighting back and has done a good job of that, and I think a lot of people can take note.”

After an All-American season for Alabama’s undefeated CFP national-championship team in 2020, Jones started in his first NFL game and stayed in the starting spot for the Patriots until being benched with six games remaining in the 2023 season.

The Jaguars traded for Jones in March even though Jacksonville had an experience backup for Lawrence in C.J. Beathard, who is preparing for his eighth NFL season.

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“I think it’s been really close, honestly,” Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said of the competition for second-team quarterback. “The addition of Mac was great for that room. It was great for C.J. Both those guys have really embraced the challenge. We’ve been upfront with both of them and explained exactly how camp was going to go. And really both of them, I think, are within three or four reps of having 50-50 split right down the middle. It’s been good competition.

“And C.J.’s been a really positive influence on Mac just learning the system, too, and that’s something you don’t see. When someone’s challenging for your spot and you see that other player coach him up a little bit, that’s encouraging and that’s positive. But both guys have done a great job.”

Lawrence played Jacksonville’s first two offensive series against the Kansas City Chiefs in the Jaguars’ preseason opener last week. Beathard finished the first half, and Jones played the second half. Jones took 28 snaps and Beathard 21 in Jacksonville’s 26-13 victory.

Beathard completed 7-of-14 passes for 125 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. The Jacksonville offense scored 11 points while he was on the field.

Jones completed 9-of-11 passes for 98 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. The Jaguars scored six points while he was on the field.

Lawrence will not play against Tampa Bay on Saturday, said Pederson, who intends to play Beathard and Jones for one half each.

“I’ve competed my whole life, and I find great joy in competition,” Jones said. “I try to just be myself. I’m not going to change because of one thing or another, and like I said, I think we have a great room here. Trevor and C.J., they’ve been awesome, and I feel like we’re brothers in there, and that’s what you want, and you want to bounce ideas off each other and compete every day, and sometimes we have these net challenges and stuff, and it’s like three brothers out there just throwing the ball around. So we compete in that regard. We compete in every other regard. But at the end of the day, we’re on the same team. We’re all working for a common goal, and that’s every good team that I’ve been on that’s the case. The bad ones, not so much.”

Beathard has been Lawrence’s backup since the Clemson QB joined the Jaguars as the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Beathard has 13 career starts, including one last season in a 26-0 victory over the Carolina Panthers.

“It’s just the same that I’ve done literally my whole life, I mean, since I was in high school,” Beathard said. “They’re your friends. There’s no bad blood. It’s like I’m boys with Mac, I’m boys with Trevor, and we get along really well together. We laugh a lot together, so it’d be a lot harder if it was a tough situation as far as, like, personality-wise. But Mac’s a great dude. He’s easy to get along with, so we’re just having fun. We’re going out, we’re all putting our best foot forward each and every day, trying to be our best, and whatever happens happens. It’s all you can do.”

Jones had three offensive coordinators during his four seasons at Alabama and three in three seasons with the Patriots. Now he’s learning another new playbook with Jacksonville.

“I think it’s great,” Jones said. “I think when people say that’s a bad thing, I think it’s a great thing. I think you obviously want to have continuality with a certain person, but at the end of the day, you’re learning from each person’s backgrounds. I think of coach (Brian) Daboll at Alabama, (Steve) Sark(isian), Mike Locksley. It’s like you’re getting different coaching backgrounds from everywhere. In New England, you get a lot of good coaching there, too.

“Here with Doug, it’s been awesome. He’s a great quarterback mind, and like I said, I’m taking from each coach, taking what I want and what I want to know and what I want to learn, and it’s been a great time here. I feel like I’ve learned a lot about offensive football here, so I’m definitely going to try and add that to my game.”

Jones said Beathard had helped him get up to speed.

“C.J.’s obviously been fortunate to play in this league for a long time, and he’s a great dude,” Jones said. “I definitely love the conversations we have, but he’s taught me a lot. He was in San Francisco, so there’s some things that I ran in Alabama and whatnot that are similar, and we always talk about certain plays like that, so he’s very smart and hard-working, and I think the group just fits together really well.”

Beathard said he feels odd about being a “veteran role model,” but he’s trying to fulfill those duties.

“I feel like I’m at a place in my life and my career where whatever situation I’m put in, I’m just trying to do the best that I can wherever that is, however that is,” Beathard said. “Trevor and Mac are both going on to Year 4, and they’re younger. And, you know, I feel like I have some, I guess, veteran role model-type things that I can try to teach them. I just kind of, I mean, but at the same time, it makes me sound old, you know? I don’t like looking at myself like that. I don’t feel old, you know? I don’t feel like I’m that much older than those guys when I’m in the quarterback room with them. But, yeah, anytime that I can add any value to anything, I’ll definitely try to do that.”

The Jaguars and Buccaneers square off at 6:30 p.m. CDT Saturday at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.

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