NFL.com's Kurt Warner recently wrote the following about Cam Newton. “The good news is, I am a walking example that perception is NOT always reality. I was given two more opportunities — with the New York Giants and Arizona Cardinals — to prove that the overriding perception of me as a player was not accurate. I was able to return to form, playing at a Pro Bowl level and reaching the Super Bowl once more. Knowing Cam’s track record and the competitor that lies within him, I would not be surprised if he once again rose to the top of the league.”
Warner seems to share the settlement of many Patriots fans, especially the tank for Trevor contingent. Maybe Newton is being seen in a bad light or maybe they have 2015 blinding them. We shall see.
As far as Warner goes, Joseph Nocco of Clutch Points wrote the following about him. "Warner not only received a second chance with the Cardinals, as Cam Newton might know, but he ultimately led Arizona to a Super Bowl in the end. Warner was, of course, a league MVP, Super Bowl Champio k9n and Super Bowl MVP with the St. Louis Rams before eventually receiving a shot at redemption with both the Cardinals and Giants, though his stint in New York wasn’t nearly as memorable as his time in the desert."
Warner has played the game, he has had his experiences, so he might know a thing or two about Newton's experience. However, every quarterback is different. Warner found the right situation in Arizona, will this be the same for Newton or will this be like Boomer Esiason in Arizona?
Nocco pointed out that there is a lot of concern with Newton but the Patriots are his best opportunity to turn things around. Newton's contract is worth up to $7.5 million. It's a one year deal with potential to evolve into a career in New England or a paycheck elsewhere.
Tyler Ash of Clutch Points wrote, "Arguably the best player in Carolina’s history, the former No.1 overall pick reached three Pro Bowls, captured the 2011 Rookie of the Year award and earned Most Valuable Player honors in 2015. Newton produced career-bests in TD passes (35) and passer rating (99.4) in ’15, leading the Panthers to a 15-1 record and an appearance in Super Bowl 50."
One of the things that Newton has going both for and against him is that he is 31. With injuries, he's gonna start taking longer to recover but at 31, he should also be in his prime. Which makes him worth a risk for the price.
One of the benefits of the Patriots signing Newton is they get a running back who can throw the football. Over his 8 years (playing), Newton has averaged 600 yards a season. That's gonna fit in well for the Patriots and their "Air West Spread" offense.
The Patriots ranked 29th in calling RPOs because Brady was too slow. Stidham gave them a chance to increase this but the former Panthers and Auburn Tiger gives them a whole new level to run RPOs.
Speaking of Stidham, while himself and Hoyer will compete with Newton. Stidham will most likely spend another year in development while the job goes to Newton. Newton can Show Stidham how to operate RPOs and mobile schemes on an NFL level. If Stidham does start, it probably won't be until after the bye.
So Hoyer will likely be cut unless Newton beats himself out of a job. Hoyer was signed to compete for the job and to mentor Stidham. It's likely, he'll also be tasked with getting Newton up to speed. As we saw with superbowl 53, Hoyer is one of the brightest minds in football and a candidate for a quarterback coaching job someday.
Ash wrote the following about Newton, talking about him not being just handed the starting role. "Newton will be given a chance to compete for the starting quarterback position this summer. Even if he can’t nail down the starting gig, he could be utilized in red zone situations. His dual-threat ability would mix well with the Patriots’ running back corps, headlined by Sony Michel, James White and Rex Burkhead."
Former Giants quarterback and CBS broadcaster Phill Simms also weighted in on Newton. Simms is father of Chris Simms who gave Patriots sophomore quarterback huge praise and annoyed everyone who hadn't seen it was done in college. Simms is also a former superbowl champion.
“I did 80 or more games as a TV announcer so I have watched everything. I could say I know no team in football like I know them, or a coach like I know Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels. Let’s see. What have the done over the years? They’ve run five different offenses during the years. The offense they ran last year — run the ball, play-action passes, short passes over the middle mostly, tons of screens, throw it to the running back, I just don’t know if Cam Newton can do that. That would be so difficult. You hear the sarcasm, right?“I love this talk of will he fit? What are we fitting? He has all the talent, the same traits as Tom Brady. Will he be the pocket passer and do all of those things? No, because he will roll out and run or throw it or do something different. I think it is a great fit for New England. I think it is a great fit for Cam Newton. I am sure Josh McDaniels is already going, ‘Well, let’s see here, what can I do?’ He loves nothing more than designing new plays for players that come in and again, think about what they have done.“The four wide receivers years ago when they went 16-0, nobody else was doing it. Using the double tight end, they started that with Gronk (Rob Gronkowski) and Aaron Hernandez years ago. They started the slot wide receiver when they got Wes Welker. Then they started let’s throw it to the running back as our main option a lot of times because linebackers, or whoever, a safety can’t cover them once they come out of the backfield. I like their chances of finding ways to use Cam Newton.”
Maybe Simms is right. Maybe the Patriots will line Newton up in the half back position and have Stidham under center. It would be a new way to use Newton, and having two quarterbacks on the field and running options proved successful for the Ravens.
Ried Goldsmith of Clutch Points wrote, "Cam Newton will get the keys of the offense, assuming he takes down QB competition in rising sophomore gunslinger Jarrett Stidham, and get a chance to work with Josh McDaniels, one of the most widely acclaimed offensive coordinators in the NFL."
The reason why people keep saying if with Cam is because he has been inconsistent. He has had David Funchess, Kelvin Benjamin, Brandon Lafell, DeAngelo Williams, Johnathan Stewart, Ed McCaffrey, Greg Olsen, and Steven Smith and yet he was only able to produce three winning seasons in 2013, 2015 which he won MVP, and 2017.
Now before everyone rights Stidham off that he was messing up, Jeff Howe of the athletic touched on Stidham.
“A source also implied the signing of Newton has nothing to do with Stidham’s performance. Considering the Patriots just conducted a virtual offseason workout program without any official on-field work, that rationale checks out."
Devin McCourty also dropped a statement on the newest Patriot. "I would think adding him to our quarterback room with [Brian] Hoyer. You have veterans in there. You have young guys in there. I think it’ll give us a really good chance to be good at that position. It’s always great to have a bunch of good players, and adding to that.”
Back in 2017 Mike Reiss spoke with Belichick about Newton. Bill had the following to say, “When you’re talking about mobile quarterbacks, guys that are tough to handle, tackle, can throw, run, make good decisions — I mean, I would put Newton at the top the list,” the Patriots coach said.“Not saying that there aren’t a lot of other good players that do that, but I would say, of all the guys we play or have played recently in the last couple of years, he’s the hardest guy to deal with. He makes good decisions, he can run, he’s strong, he’s hard to tackle. He can do a lot of different things, beat you in a lot of different ways. We saw that in the game down there in ’13, so I would put him at the top of the list. Not saying the other guys aren’t a problem, because they are, but he’s public enemy No. 1.”
The Patriots didn't show much interest this offseason in Newton. Bringing Newton in now puts him behind all of the quarterbacks on the roster with little over a month before the first preseason game. He's got a lot of catching up to do. Dont expect a 100% new playbook. The Patriots will adapt it but it will be 66% of Brady's, so they don't have to teach 52 men a new playbook.
One of the suspected reasons for bringing in Newton now is because the team just lost a third round draft pick for spy Gate 2.0.Adam Schefter tweeted back on June 28 that the signing could make up for the fine.
Per Schefter "This is very New England: Now if Cam Newton plays well in 2020, and leaves as a free agent, the Patriots could get back a compensatory 2022 third-round pick to help make up for 2021 third-round pick the NFL is taking away from New England for its videotape violation."
There is a lot of potential upside for the Patriots but there's no Guarantee that Newton returns to the high levels of play that his fans have come to expect, with that the Patriots will be cautious with Newton, as Dijo Songco of Clutch Points notes.
"It seems that Cam Newton still has a lot to prove if he wants to take the starting job for the New England Patriots.
As per The Athletic, Newton isn’t guaranteed the starting job and will need to impress come training camp to fill in Tom Brady’s massive shoes."
No matter how you feel about Newton. Regardless if you like the signing or the timing of it, all we can do is wait to see which player shows up for the Patriots. There are two Cams, regular Cam which is a running back with the quarterback ability of Brian Hoyer, and SuperCam which is an elite NFL quarterback capable of 11 and 12 win seasons. We won't know who the Patriots signed for a few weeks.
Cam made sure to let people know he was ready as he told the entire NFL that he was "coming for their throats".
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