In the NFL, we hear all the time about players having details provided by the team to "babysit" the players. If you're a Patriots fan, you know the team did this with Josh Gordon. So when we hear teams vet a player before or after signing them, it shouldn't come as a surprise.
NBC analyst Chris Simms accused the Patriots of following Cam Newton around for a month before signing him. Simms is a former player and son of Giants Superbowl winning quarterback Phil Simms. So he knows how teams operate.
NESN tweeted out asking if the Patriots spied on Newton, on July 20th. "Chris Simms apparently believes so. nesn.com/?p=1089624 ". WEEI also tweeted out, "Did Patriots have Cam Newton followed? Chris Simms thinks there is a good chance."
It's very plausible, the last thing the Patriots want is to bring on another Albert Haynesworth or Aaron Hernandez. The team over the past several years has had issues with drugs as well. Just last season, Patrick Chung was arrested for trying to bring drugs into the country.
Chris Simms tried to make a good case but keep in mind the former NFL quarterback is also trying to get ratings. Here's a little of what Simms said on his podcast "unbottoned" , “I think they started to do their homework on Cam, what is the guy like? Does he work hard? Can he handle our mental grind of stuff we put in in our offense on a daily basis? I think they started to do their due diligence there. And listen, New England, again, if you made me bet I would bet New England had Cam Newton followed for three to four weeks. That’s just the way New England works. I don’t mean to be like creepy about it, but that’s what I always heard they did with Randy Moss back in the day.”
Jerry Trotta of Musket Fire was all about the details. Suggesting that it could cause issues if true and Simms needed to reveal more.
Trotta wrote, "We obviously wouldn’t put this past New England, which is as calculated as any team in sports, to be this paranoid before signing a player that’s coming off shoulder and foot surgeries, but Simms’ verbiage makes it seem like their methods were a blatant violation of Newton’s privacy."
If the Patriots had treated Aaron Hernandez like that after he was signed, the team would've been able to help him and his victims. So there maybe some validation for a team doing a deep dive and walking the gray line of privacy. The Patriots are a team that lives in that line, everyone knows it. So whether Simms was posting click bait or not, the story could have some credibility.
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