Quarterback Mac Jones has been benched by the New England Patriots, but the former Alabama All-American has the NFL’s leading receiver in his corner.

Tyreek Hill spoke up for Jones during the most recent edition of the Miami Dolphins wide receiver’s podcast “It Needed To Be Said.”

The Patriots pulled Jones from their 10-6 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Nov. 12 when they sent backup Bailey Zappe out for the final possession. Jones started the next game against the New York Giants on Nov. 26, but Zappe played the entire second half of the 10-7 loss.

Jones answered questions at two somber press conferences after both of those losses.

“Man, look, every man cries for what he loves,” Hill said. “I don’t know where I got that from, but every man cries for what he loves. I just think coach (Bill) Belichick has put my dog in a bad situation. You put my dog Mac Jones in a bad situation. I love Mac Jones. I love his personality, I love how he carries himself, I love how he competes and I just love everything about him, and I just feel like they’re doing a bad job of putting him in good situations. I feel like they’re trying to get him out of New England.”

As to why that would be the case, Hill said: “Probably the coaches don’t like him. It’s probably one of them situations where him and the coach have a situation because Mac, he does have an outsized personality. Mac Jones is from Florida. Think about it. Think about the personalities.”

Jones had started every game since joining New England as the 15th selection of the 2021 NFL Draft except for three 2022 games that he missed because of an ankle injury – until Sunday. Zappe went all the way under center in the Patriots’ 6-0 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

“It’s just a rough season,” Hill said. “We all have rough seasons, which is normal because we’re human, too. Once he figure it out and they get the dice rolling, he’s going to come back full swing, full momentum and prove everybody wrong.”

Rivals in the AFC East, the former Alabama quarterback and the former West Alabama wide receiver have been teammates – at the Pro Bowl for the 2021 season. With the Dolphins, Hill is catching passes from Tua Tagovailoa. Jones served as Tagovailoa’s backup for the 2019 Crimson Tide.

Tagovailoa and Hill hooked up for touchdown passes of 78 and 60 yards in Miami’s 45-15 victory over the Washington Commanders on Sunday.

The win boosted the Dolphins’ record to 9-3, tied with the Baltimore Ravens for the top mark in the AFC. With five weeks left in the season, Miami sits on top of the conference’s playoff standings.

Hill had nine receptions for 105 yards in the Kansas City Chiefs’ 31-20 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 2, 2020, in Super Bowl LIV. Hill said the current Dolphins had more talent than the 2019 Chiefs.

“If you look at our team, our team has structurely got a lot more superstars on it than we had on the Chiefs,” Hill said. “Now that Chiefs team was loaded, though. We won a Super Bowl. We played against a real good San Francisco 49ers team. But if you look at this team here, this team here is way better on paper.”

To get Miami from paper to the NFL championship will take work, Hill said.

“This is our window,” Hill said. “Our coach, he understands ball. He’s like, ‘This is our window. This is our time,’ because you’re only going to get this team one time. You’re only going to get the same guys on the same team one time because every team changes every year. That’s how it is. The NFL, that’s how it is.”

Hill leads the NFL with 1,481 yards and 12 touchdowns on his 93 receptions this season.

Hill has the most receiving yards in his team’s first 12 games of a season for any player in the NFL’s Super Bowl era. With 157 receiving yards against the Commanders, Hill became the fifth player in NFL history with five games with 150-or-more receiving yards in one season, joining Roy Green in 1984, Jerry Rice in 1995, Tim Brown in 1997 and Antonio Brown in 2017.

The Dolphins and Patriots play in prime time in Week 14 of the NFL’s 2023 season, but not against each other.

New England faces the Pittsburgh Steelers at 7:15 p.m. CST Thursday at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh. Prime Video will televise the game.

After getting shut out on Sunday with Zappe at quarterback, might the Patriots turn back to Jones on Thursday night?

“We’ll talk more about the game plan here today,” Belichick said when asked at his Tuesday press conference about the starting quarterback against Pittsburgh.

Later on Tuesday, Zappe fielded the starting-quarterback question at his press conference.

“Coach has made it pretty clear,” Zappe said, “but I’ll let him announce it to everybody. That’s private right now. Whenever he announces it, that’s with him.”

But Belichick didn’t get a single quarterback question at his Wednesday press conference.

Miami squares off against the Tennessee Titans at 7:15 p.m. Monday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. ESPN will televise the game.

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