Take Cam Newton. Inconsistency was and is his game. In Carolina, he produced three winning seasons in eight years and they weren't back to back. He had three seasons over 60% completion and again they weren't back to back. Showing he can be an accurate passer, again it just wasn't there regularly and couldn't be counted on.
Newton came to the Patriots and there was a lot of talk from fans that it was all Carolina that caused Newton's flaws. That Newton was an accurate quarterback. That he had no weapons. That he had no defense. That he had no protection. So we as fans gave him a chance. Many of us scrutinizing everything.
Newton ran it well in week one of the 2020 season but threw it poorly. In week two, Newton threw it good but ran poorly. Week three in the first half, Newton did everything poorly and should've been pulled. Newton had an up and down 2020 season.
This spring Newton again had his highs and lows. And throughout his entire tenure in New England, the one thing he has consistently showed is he does not have the accuracy or anticipation that is required to run the Patriots offense.
Long time New England Patriots and now media personality Rob Ninkovich spoke about Cam Newton. He's just the latest in a slew of former players across the league to talk about the Patriots signal caller. Here's what Ninkovich told Get Up.
Ninkovich said, "No, I do not (expect a bounce-back season). This doesn’t come from hate. I’m looking at this perspective of there’s two types of offenses that the Patriots would have to run. One completely different offense with Cam Newton, and the other with Mac Jones.
The team is built right now to have a typical pro-style quarterback under center, run the football, 22 personnel, 23 personnel. They’re gonna be better-suited with Mac Jones under center."
I'd add to what Ninkovich said and say they're also built to run a 13 personnel and could even sprinkle in some 14 personnel. The Patriots could very well go thin at receiver and load them up on the practice squad, depending on how Gunner Olszewski does.
Ninkovich continued, "And Cam’s still going to have a big role in this offense. You’re going to see him in the red zone. He’s going to have a big impact on this team. But he’s not going to be the big breakout guy. It’s going to be Mac Jones."
There are many that believe that if Cam Newton doesn't win the quarterback competition, that he will be cut. Brian Hoyer getting reps helps fuel that. If Newton is released by some chance, there's little odds that another team will pick him up unless there's an Injury.
Newton has never fit the Patriots offense. I said it last year. It's easier to teach 1 guy a new offense than 52 guys. Newton struggles in the quick game. He struggles on anything horizontal in the passing game.
There was a lot of criticism for how many sacks he took in Carolina. We saw last season and again this spring. He struggles to make presnap reads. And last season, it looked like he struggled to make the post snap as well.
Nothing against Cam but where he's consistent are not in positive areas. Newton can run and teams like Baltimore that utilize running quarterbacks might want him as a backup but his arm and his mental processor or football IQ is not on the level the Patriots want.
Newton is on life support with the Patriots. How long does he have, who knows. All we do know is even though he had below average pass catchers in 2020, they bailed him out. The Patriots aren't going to let him hinder his pass catchers' production a second year in a row.
You know it's funny, his supporters said he didnt get a full offseason last year but when he was struggling this spring, they said it's just practice and doesn't matter. If Newton has a bad August, they say the same thing about the preseason but does anyone think that will be the mentality of the Patriots coaching staff or Robert Kraft?
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