Patriots free-agent wide receiver C.J. Jones hauls in a pass out of the reach of cornerback Mike Richardson during a recent practice at Foxboro.

The Providence Journal / Gretchen Ertl

FOXBORO — Preseason games can be make-or-break time for a player like C.J. Jones.

A receiver who has never quite caught on in the NFL, Jones spent all of last year on the New England Patriots’ practice squad and has looked good in training camp thus far.

But the Patriots have some guys named Moss, Welker and Gaffney at receiver, leaving precious few spots for a player like Jones.

Beginning tonight against the Baltimore Ravens (7:30, Gillette Stadium), Jones and some of the others players on the bubble for New England will get the chance to show the coaching staff whether they have what it takes to make the cut on Aug. 30, when teams must name their 53-man roster.

“I’m just trying to come out and make some plays, make sure I’m doing my job and just come out and have a good game,” Jones said this week. “I hope (to) come out injury-free and hope everything comes out well.”

The Patriots have 18 training camp sessions under their belt, and coach Bill Belichick and his staff certainly grade players on those. But preseason games give a different, and sometimes more meaningful, means of evaluation.

“I couldn’t put a percentage on it, but they are important,” Belichick said. “It is a composite of all the practices and the games. Certainly the games carry a lot of weight. …You put it all together. Some players practice better than they play, and some players play better than they practice. I don’t want to minimize the 18 practices we’ve had out here and say ‘well, they don’t mean anything.’ They mean a lot, but the games mean a lot as well.”

While Jones is certainly aware that for him, these games are akin to the Super Bowl, he said he won’t be putting extra emphasis on them.

“I just go out and play. I don’t even think about depth chart,” he said. “When I get a chance, an opportunity to go out, I just make the plays and hope it’s a good play and make sure I know my plays so I can play fast and just help the team.”

Playing fast is something Jones has been working on, thanks to Randy Moss.

“He’s a good teacher. He’s a real good teacher,” Jones said. “He shows us a lot — in the meeting rooms, on the [blackboard]. He knows the plays. We have these little games we play with the routes and stuff like that, and if you don’t know it he’ll make sure you know it.”

Jones does plenty of watching and emulating when it comes to Moss, but the Pro Bowler has taken an interest in seeing Jones get better as well.

“Being in meetings, I sit in front of him and I can just turn around and ask him any kind of question I need, so I’m glad to get coached by him and my receivers coach [Bill O’Brien],” Jones said. “It’s good to have [Moss] and Wes Welker to give extra little tips on different scenarios.

“I try to pick up route-running [from Moss]. He’s always running fast, and he asked me one day, am I fast. I said, ‘Yeah.’ I guess he was watching film, and he said, ‘You don’t look fast. … Run your routes fast.’ So I just started coming off the ball fast on all my routes and I just started getting open a lot faster because the ‘D’ doesn’t know if I’m blocking or if I’m going out for a pass. So I did learn that and I was grateful for that.”

Jones’ career got off to a good enough start: after playing in the 2003 Orange Bowl for Iowa, where his head coach was former Belichick assistant Kirk Ferentz, he made the Browns’ 53-man roster as an undrafted rookie. He never got in a game, however, spending 11 weeks as a day-of-game inactive and five more weeks on the team’s practice squad. Jones spent the 2004 season on Cleveland’s practice squad, but aside from playing in NFL Europa in ’05 and ’06, he didn’t play true NFL football.

New England brought the 5-foot-11, 195- pound receiver aboard last June. A teammate of Vince Wilfork at Santaluces High in Florida, Jones has said that if he can’t catch on with the Patriots, he’ll move on from football.

In the meantime, Jones, 27, is enjoying learning from and playing with Moss, amazed that one of the game’s great receivers is looking out for him.

“Man, it’s mind-boggling. You don’t really look at him like that, but when we’re all done playing football and look back — we played with Randy Moss, were in the locker room with Randy Moss, crack on Randy Moss, he cracks on us,” he said. “It’s mind-boggling, but he’s a cool person to be around and I’m glad I’m here.”

Whether or not he sticks around will have a lot to do with how he performs tonight.