Patriots' Bill Belichick: Mac Jones could be medically cleared 'at any time'

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick still isn't offering any hints on the status of quarterback Mac Jones for Sunday's game at the Cleveland Browns. 

"I know everybody wants a definite answer, but it’s just totally unrealistic to be able to do that," Belichick said Friday of his starter, per Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. "I don’t know how a player’s going to feel after three days of practice, depending on what the volume is, what the intensity is — it’s impossible to know that until you’ve actually experienced it, or he experiences it. So, we’ll see." 

Jones hasn't played since he went down with a reported high-ankle sprain in Week 3. According to Zack Cox of NESN, Belichick was willing to admit the second-year pro "is making good improvement" and did "a lot more this Thursday than he did last Thursday" as it pertains to practice sessions. 

Belichick also said Jones could be medically cleared to return to the active roster "at any time" before or after Sunday's game between the 2-3 Patriots and 2-3 Browns in downtown Cleveland. 

"There’s no deadline on that," Belichick continued about potentially clearing Jones. "The injury report is the injury report. There’s a deadline on that and there’s a classification on that. And that’s what we follow.

"Internally, we can do whatever we want — well, not do whatever we want, but based on the information that’s available, we can make any determination that’s appropriate. Again, part of that is how a player feels, what he’s able to do, what he’s not able to do, what the recovery from what his previous output was or wasn’t. But, no, I’m not going into how internally we talk about the players and all that."

Rookie Bailey Zappe has served as New England's temporary QB1 since backup Brian Hoyer suffered a concussion at the Green Bay Packers in Week 4 on Oct. 2. Zappe is 1-0 as a starter and completed 27-of-36 passes for 287 yards with two touchdowns and one interception over his two outings. 

Some have suggested Zappe could spark a legitimate quarterback controversy if he guides the Patriots to a second-consecutive win in Cleveland. Perhaps that has Jones wanting to return to the lineup before he's fully recovered from his setback.