The New England Patriots have re-signed Cam Newton on a one-year deal, but does that mean they believe he will be their starting quarterback come Week 1 next season?
Not necessarily.
Newton’s new contract is worth up to $14 million, but it is loaded with incentives like the deal he signed last offseason. At least from a financial standpoint, the Patriots are in no way saying the former MVP is guaranteed a starting job. Both ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NFL Network’s Michael Giardi said New England’s decision to bring back Newton does not mean they will bow out of the quarterback market.
Most Patriots fans are unhappy with the idea of Newton as the team’s starting QB again next season. The 31-year-old had just 2,657 yards passing, eight touchdowns and 10 interceptions last season. It looked like his surgically repaired shoulder may have been an issue, and Newton did very little to prove he is still capable of winning games in the NFL.
The thinking from Bill Belichick is probably that Newton knows the offense and is relatively inexpensive. Newton likely knows that the team will either draft a quarterback or acquire another veteran to compete with him in training camp.
Belichick reportedly has another team’s quarterback at the top of his wish list, but it is highly unlikely the Patriots will land that player. For now, Newton provides some security and a potential bridge option, albeit one with an extremely low ceiling.
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Cam Newton has agreed to re-sign with the New England Patriots on a one-year deal, and many were shocked to hear how much the contract is worth after the season Newton had in 2020. When you look at it more closely, however, it does not seem like a huge risk for the Patriots.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Newton’s one-year contract is worth $14 million. As you might expect, that amount is hardly guaranteed.
Newton’s contract with the Patriots last season was essentially a league-minimum base salary with numerous incentives. The contract was worth up to $7.5 million, so Newton has the opportunity to earn double that this year. However, Albert Breer of The MMQB reports that the new contract is loaded with the same types of incentives.
The Athletic’s Jeff Howe said Newton will only earn $14 million “if everything goes perfectly.”
There was no reason for Newton to think he could earn big money from the Patriots or any other team after the way he played last season. He may feel his performance was greatly hindered by the shortened offseason and his bout with COVID-19, but he knew he was going to have to sign another prove-it deal.
Newton finished with 2,657 yards passing, eight touchdowns and 10 interceptions last season. He’s betting on himself once again, but he didn’t have much of a choice. Hopefully his unique offseason training this year will yield better results heading into the 2021 season.
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Cam Newton did very little last season to prove he is still capable of being a starting quarterback in the NFL, but the New England Patriots still feel like he has something to offer.
Newton has agreed to re-sign with the Patriots on a one-year deal, Jim McBride of the Boston Globe reported on Friday.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the deal is worth $14 million.
Newton struggled in 2020, finishing with 2,657 yards passing, eight touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He did, however, sign with New England very late in what was already a shortened offseason due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Newton also missed time early in the year after testing positive for the coronavirus.
The Patriots have been linked to a number of veteran quarterbacks this offseason like Matthew Stafford and Jimmy Garoppolo, but Newton is familiar with the offense and a very inexpensive option. Bill Belichick may also be planning to draft a quarterback and have Newton compete for the starting job.
Newton will certainly be plenty motivated to prove himself after he failed to do so last season. He’s already been going through some unique offseason workouts, so we’ll see if that pays off.
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Cam Newton is hunting for a new team for the 2021 season, and motivating himself in an unusual way.
The veteran quarterback shared a picture of himself working out while surrounded by trash cans. The reason? In his own words, “having a constant reminder of keep motivation close enough to you to remind you what not to be…and that’s trash!!”
Newton will definitely want 2021 season that’s less trash than 2020. He threw for only 2,657 yards and eight touchdowns with New England, and the Patriots were only 7-8 in his starts.
We haven’t heard much yet about where Newton might land as a free agent, but there is some evidence that the 31-year-old might actually have a suitor in his former team.
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Amid all the chatter about the New England Patriots’ quarterback position, some may be overlooking the guy who was there for them in 2020.
Sources told Ben Volin of the Boston Globe that Patriots coach Bill Belichick has “done nothing but rave” about Cam Newton and the effort the quarterback put in during the 2020 season. The same sources added that it would not surprise them if the Patriots brought Newton back for 2021.
This is slightly surprising considering how much Newton struggled with the Patriots in 2020. The 31-year-old threw for only 2,657 yards and eight touchdowns against ten interceptions in 15 games, and the Patriots went 7-8 with him starting under center. Newton thinks he knows why he was so mediocre, though, so perhaps a second year with New England would solve some of these problems.
Others have a very different view of how the Patriots’ 2021 quarterback situation will develop. If Belichick really likes Newton this much, though, the chances of a return may be better than previously thought.
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Cam Newton got into it with a high school football player at a 7-on-7 event in South Carolina over the weekend, and the youngster who appeared to instigate the verbal spat has since apologized.
Newton was sponsoring a team at the Myrtle Beach event when Jseth Owens, a junior from Perkiomen Valley High School in Pennsylvania, began heckling him for the rough season Newton had with the New England Patriots. Newton responded by repeatedly telling Owens he’s rich and asking to speak with his father. You can see the video here.
On Sunday night, Owens issued an apology on Twitter (via TMZ):
Owens seemed to indicate he only meant to talk a little trash to Newton. He said he “let my competitive side get the best of me” and that he “never meant to humiliate & let anyone down.”
Newton also addressed the incident. He shared a video on Instagram that showed him trying to have a serious conversation with Owens after the two got into it. The conversation ended with Newton chatting with someone who looked like a coach from the high schooler’s tournament team.
Newton probably should have just ignored Owens and chalked it up to kids being kids. However, the high schooler clearly got under his skin.
It sounds like the situation will serve as a learning experience for everyone involved.
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Cam Newton thinks he knows why his 2020 season with the New England Patriots was so underwhelming.
Newton tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of Week 4, and did not return until Week 6. The quarterback feels that period of time away from the team cost him in terms of preparation and caused him to fall behind in learning the offense and getting in sync with his teammates.
“I was one of the first football players to catch it, and it happened so fast,” Newton said on Brandon Marshall’s “I Am Athlete” podcast, via Christopher Price of the Boston Globe. “When I came back, that’s where the lack of an offseason and the lack of time in the system really showed itself. I was behind and I was thinking too much.
“The offense kept going and I was stagnant for two weeks. It was all new terminology. I wasn’t just trying to learn a system for what it was, I was learning a 20-year system in two months.”
In three games prior to testing positive, Newton had completed 68 percent of his passes and threw for 714 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. In 12 games the rest of the way, he threw for only 1,943 yards, six touchdowns, and eight interceptions while completing about 65 percent of his passes. Neither set of numbers is great, but the pre-COVID stats are slightly better.
Newton’s 2020 has opened him up to criticism, even from kids at his own minicamp. If the quarterback’s theory is right, though, 2021 has a chance of being better.
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Cam Newton took part in a youth football camp over the weekend as he faces an uncertain NFL future, and the former MVP probably did not expect to have to deal with a heckler. Unfortunately, he did.
A kid who looked like he was about high school age began chirping at Newton on the sideline and telling him he’s a free agent. Newton clapped back by reminding the young man he is rich, to which the kid replied, “You about to be poor.” Newton also asked, “Where’s your dad?”
Neither Newton nor the young heckler wanted to back down. You can see the video below, but beware that it contains some inappropriate language:
Newton certainly is rich, and he will likely be just fine even if he doesn’t find a job in 2021. He has already made more than $122 million on the field alone.
All that said, this clearly isn’t the brightest time in Newton’s career. One NFL insider seems to think he has at least one starting job waiting for him, but that remains to be seen after the way he played with the New England Patriots in 2020.
It has been both reported and widely assumed that Cam Newton will not return to the New England Patriots next season. But now that it suddenly seems like the Pats could have trouble attracting free agents, is there a scenario where Bill Belichick could give Newton another shot?
Michael Giardi of NFL Network was asked on Monday if the Patriots will consider bringing Newton back, and the reporter said he would not rule it out. The rationale is that New England did not sign Newton until June last year, which gave him minimal time to learn a complicated offense while juggling coronavirus restrictions. Giardi also noted how few weapons the Patriots gave Newton to work with, especially after Julian Edelman went down with an injury.
“Maybe if they look back on what they did this past season, they’ll decide, ‘We didn’t do enough for Cam to make Cam as comfortable as possible in this offense,'” Giardi said.
There’s no denying that the Patriots put Newton in a tough position. Very few quarterbacks would thrive with Jakobi Meyers as their top wide receiver and no legitimate pass-catching option at the tight end position. That said, a poor supporting cast wasn’t Newton’s only issue.
Newton finished the season with 2,657 yards, eight touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He even looked physically limited at times, which is concerning given his history with shoulder problems.
We have heard reports that make it seem like the Patriots could have trouble trading for a starting quarterback or attracting free agents. If their only option is to draft a QB, perhaps they will bring back Newton for another season and see if he can improve in a bridge role.
Cam Newton did very little this season to prove he can still play at a high level, but is there a chance he could land another starting job in 2021?
ESPN’s Adam Schefter seems to think so. It is unlikely that Newton will return to the New England Patriots next season, and Schefter already has a potential landing spot in mind for the former MVP. The reporter thinks Newton could be a good fit for Washington, and he believes the contract will be respectable, too.
Schefter is obviously very informed, but it’s hard to envision Newton getting that kind of money. The Patriots paid Newton the veteran minimum with incentives, and he responded with 2,657 yards passing, eight touchdowns and 10 interceptions. The contract was viewed as a prove-it deal, and all Newton really proved is that he is nowhere near the player he used to be.
Granted, the Patriots didn’t exactly surround Newton with weapons. They have arguably the worst receiving corps in the NFL. But we can’t forget that they were the only team to offer Newton a clear path to a starting job. Washington has moved on from Dwayne Haskins and Alex Smith’s health remains a concern, but Newton doesn’t seem like the answer — even if he did show crazy commitment with his daily schedule this season.
Newton obviously has a history with Ron Rivera, who coached him for years in Carolina. That could make Washington a sensible landing spot, but the contract figures seem unrealistic.
