Cam Newton signing shows Patriots are not tanking this season

Cam Newton was the biggest free agent on the market for most of the offseason, and there was one team that seemed like the most obvious fit for him: the New England Patriots. But for months, the Patriots didn’t sign Newton, and they even led us to believe that Jarrett Stidham was their answer.

Maybe some there still feel that way, but the Newton signing seems to signal something else. Signing Cam Newton shows that the Patriots are not tanking this season.

New England lost Tom Brady, seemingly by not making a financial contract offer to his liking. They traded Rob Gronkowski, who came out of retirement to play with Brady in Tampa Bay. They lost Kyle Van Noy, Jamie Collins and Danny Shelton from the defense. They had Stidham, Brian Hoyer, Brian Lewerke and J’Mar Smith at quarterback. That seemed like the kind of group that would translate into a 5-win team at most. This seemed like a perfect time to tank and aim for a high draft pick where they could select a quarterback whom they hope would become their next franchise guy. Some thought that may have been what they were doing.

But then, after several months of questions, they finally signed Newton.

Newton remained unsigned for so long reportedly because of the inability of teams to examine him medically as he recovered from foot surgery. He only played in two games last season and did not look at all like himself due to the foot injury. He had arm issues the year before.

There is no doubt that Newton is talented and can help a team win when healthy. He and the Panthers began the 2018 season 6-2, and Newton was productive until his arm fell off.

But the question is: is he healthy? We’ll only know that once training camp, the preseason, and regular season begin.

Even without that question answered, here’s another question that you should be able to answer yourself: why sign a guy who was a former league MVP if you’re not attempting to strike some gold? That’s exactly what New England is doing.