The Patriots took Alabama QB Mac Jones with the 15th pick in the NFL Draft. (AP photo)

Mac Jones said he really wanted to be a New England Patriot.

So while there were some anxious moments, especially after he wasn’t taken at No. 3 by the San Francisco 49ers as many expected, he ultimately got his wish in Thursday night’s NFL Draft.

But he had to wait a little while until the Patriots grabbed him with the 15th pick in the first round – and he may have to wait a while before the Patriots put their QB eggs in the Mac Jones basket.

Cam Newton is still the team’s No. 1 quarterback, as the fight to be the long-term successor to Tom Brady continues.

“Cam’s our quarterback,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said early this morning. “Whatever position, whatever time Jarrett or Mac are ready to challenge or compete, we’ll see how that goes. Right now for Mac, he’s just got a lot of learning in front of him. I know he’s very anxious to get going on it, get started, and so we’ll start trying to give him material to work on, be ready for rookie minicamp the second week in May, on to the rookie development program and so on.”

Jones sat and the ESPN cameras kept watching him in the Green Room. But they caught him on the phone grinning, a signal the Patriots had grabbed him.

“Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, you kind of want to just get the right fit and I feel like, secretly, I really wanted to go to the Patriots all along, so I’m actually really happy that it happened,” Jones said. “But it doesn’t really matter. You get picked. You got to take the opportunity and take advantage of it and learn the new system, learn the new coaches, learn the new culture, and Coach Belichick’s done a great job establishing that throughout his time in New England and I just got to learn how to be a great teammate and do my job and stick to what they’re telling me to do.”

Jones threw for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns in leading Alabama to the National Championship, completing 77.4 percent of his passes. And, of course, Patriots coach Bill Belichick is good friends with Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban.

“Mac was available there at our pick,” Belichick said. “He was a guy we spent a lot of time with. Felt that was the best pick at the time for us.

“Look forward to working with him, he’s a smart kid, it’s a system similar to ours (at Alabama), it’s obviously going to take a lot of time. See how it goes.”

“Being at Alabama definitely helps, but we have to move forward (to a) new life with the Patriots,” Jones said. “So whatever I did in the past, kind of doesn’t really matter. I just got to come in and work hard and hopefully good things will happen. But the past is the past and the future is the future and I’m just kind of focused on what we’re focused on right now.”

Jones was asked if he felt he’d be competing for the starting job.

“I’ve never played in the NFL or anything and I don’t know what it’s like, so I’m just going to go in there and work really hard like I always have and I always will,” Jones said. “And like I said, I mean, Cam earned the respect of the team already and my job is to support him and Jarrett and help them become better players if I can.

“I’ve never played in the NFL, but I have seen good football and I know that I can help them with anything they need, whether it’s taking notes or taking stress off their mind. So I’m just going to be that great teammate that I know I can be.”

Jones is going to soak everything in, joking about an Alabama QB in the same room with two Auburn players.

“For me, I’m actually in a great quarterback room with Cam Newton,” Jones said. “Both those guys are role models for me and I’m going to see how they did it. … Whatever I need to do to help the team win.”

The Patriots watched four quarterbacks go in the first 11 picks. After the predictable choices of Trevor Lawrence at No. 1 (Jacksonville) and Zach Wilson by the Jets at No. 2, the San Francisco 49ers surprised some by taking North Dakota State QB Trey Lance at No. 3, a likely sign they intend to hold on to Jimmy Garoppolo for another year as Lance isn’t seen as being NFL starter-ready.

So that left Ohio State’s Justin Fields and Jones. No QBs were taken through No. 10, and the Patriots did not trade up with teams such as Carolina at No. 8 as had been speculated.

Chicago did deal with the New York Giants at No. 11, and grabbed Fields. None of the teams from there – the Cowboys, Chargers, and the Vikings – who ended up trading back to allow the Jets to leapfrog New England at 14, wanted a QB. That left Jones for New England if they wanted him.

“I wouldn’t say we were in the most flexible position,” Belichick said. “So stayin at 15 kind of seemed like the best thing for us to do and it worked out fine for us.”

Jones is the sixth Alabama player selected by the Patriots in the last nine years, beginning with linebacker Dont’a Hightower in 2012. In 2015 they took defensive back Xavier Dickson, corner Cyrus Jones in 2016, running back Damien Harris in 2019, and linebacker Anfernee Jennings a year ago.

“I watched a ton of their stuff with Cam and even Tom Brady when he was thee,

he said. “To be a part of it now is really awesome. I’m looking forward to learning from those older guys.

“At the end of the day, I’m with a new team,” he said. “I have to figure out what I’m good at, and what I’m bad at.”

“We all have a long way to go,” Belichick said, “so we need to learn what he can do. He needs to lern a lot about professonional football and refine his fundamentals and techniques. …

“I just see this as a big process for all of us.”

A process that may begin, but in the minds of Patriots fans, is ending as they saw the team finally pick a quarterback in the first round.