McDaniels Opens Up About Newton And Jones.

At one point this offseason Jarrett Stidham was the only quarterback on the roster. Jake Dolegala's future contract hadn't kicked in, and both Brian Hoyer and Cam Newton were free agents. Flash forward to June third and Cam Newton is barely quarterback one. And rookie Mac Jones is quarterback two.

On June third reporters got to speak with McDaniels about the top two guys on the quarterback depth chart. The media asked some good questions and McDaniels seemed to do his best to give real answers, while not breaking the Patriots way.

McDaniels validates some of Cam Newton's excuses for his struggles during the 2020 season. 

McDaniels said, "When he got here, that was a unique situation having really no experience and exposure to our system prior to training camp starting. I honestly can't remember another time in my career where we've had a player that has done that. So it was a unique scenario.

He worked his butt off last year to do it, and then he came back certainly this year at a much different position. He has a different grasp of the offense, a different understanding of the terminology. Now we're working on refining the precision, the details."

The details like accuracy and mechanics? Newton's reportedly still looking the same but what's McDaniels think about Cam's commitment to improving his mechanics? 

With that McDaniels said, "he's worked really hard at it. We’re going to continue to work really hard at it with the days we have left in spring to refine his and everyone else’s at the position as well. Because I don’t think it’s ever a finished product.”

Let's be honest, Cam Newton has never been an accurate passer. His career completion percentage was below sixty when he arrived in New England. The Patriots worked on his throwing mechanics in 2020 but Newton's accuracy was all over the place. He threw the ball to bubbles, he threw it in the ground, and many times he threw it out of the reach if his pass catchers. 

His high completion percentage is credited to his pass catchers, just look at their true catch percentages. So McDaniels is right, they need every day they can to fix Newton's accuracy but can they change a 32 year old's accuracy? That's still to be determined.

From rookie minicamp to last weeks OTAs, Mac Jones has been reportedly impressing the Patriots roster and staff. So of course McDaniels was asked about what he liked in the Patriots number fifteen pick draft selection.

McDaniels said, "He won a lot of games in the last year-plus at Alabama. He played in some big games, some pressure situations. He takes care of the football. He's demonstrated an ability to function at a pretty high level in their system and offense, with their terminology. He competed in a league that is widely regarded as one of the top conferences, if not the top conference, in all of college football.

He certainly stood out in obvious ways relative to throwing the football, command, protecting the ball and not hurting his football team. There was a lot to look at and digest as you studied him.”

As for the quarterback competition in New England, and let's face it, there's one for the start and one for the third string role. What's McDaniels have to say about it?

McDaniels said, “The best thing about coaching these guys, and we have four great guys in the room, is you coach all of them hard and coach them all fairly and coach them all to what they need. One of them might need a kick in the butt once in a while and one might need a pat on the back. But what all of them need is good, honest communication and constructive criticism.

We need to teach every day and I’m not taking anything for granted. I’m making sure we cover everything A to Z and giving them an opportunity to make a mistake, fix it and come back and try it again. Giving them all the opportunity this spring is invaluable. It’s a great opportunity for us to make progress in that room collectively to prepare them to compete in August.”

Obviously some of the quarterbacks on the roster are guaranteed right? I mean their spot was a gimme when the Patriots acquired them. McDaniels said about his quarterbacks, "I don't care what quarterback you're talking about, there's always work to be done."