Stidham was ready to compete for the job this year, except he appears to not have been stretching properly. I am not there when the team takes the practice field but I thought that was part of the morning routine.
On Sunday Newton took 39 attempts and completed 28 of them. Not a horrible as he completed over 66% of his passes. The Patriots even pulled out some plays more designed for his athleticism.
Zack Cox spoke about Newton's performance on Sunday. Zack Wrote, "This wasn’t a perfect day from Newton, as his accuracy wavered at times. We counted seven off-target passes from the former Carolina Panthers star, including multiple overthrows on deep balls. In one instance during 7-on-7s, Newton apologized to Julian Edelman (more on him below) after throwing behind the wideout on a crossing route."
While Newton is taken more reps, Newton's accuracy is good for Stidham but the more reps Newton gets, the more the job slips from Stidham. Even if Stidham doesn't out play Newton, he needs the reps to show the Patriots why they should let Newton walk in 2021.
Stidham did throw during drills according to NBC's Phil Perry but he didn't take any reps. This is because the less Stidham uses his legs the faster he recovers. The only positive to draw from Stidham at the moment is he is still on the field participating some how.
The main receivers are starting to get involved, so if Belichick doesn't call the competition by Wednesday, I expect the team to see if Stidham can throw that morning. I don't think Bill is ready to call it yet but as Newton improves, the pressure is gonna build for him to. Stidham's injury may leave him no choice.
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