We're told Newton injured his throwing hand.

Cam Newton reportedly injured his throwing hand on Friday during the OTAs. After reading almost every article on the subject, nobody really knows how it happened, it's just speculatory. 

Early reports are coming out that it's a bone bruise and that Newton could be out until the team meets in July. With Newton trying to fix his mechanics, that would be detrimental to him as Newton is trying to fight off Mac Jones and hang on to the starting spot.

Something strange about this is what Mike Reiss reported on Friday. Reiss said, "source close to the situation told ESPN it is not serious and that the veteran QB is 'all good.' "

Which is basically what Ian Rapoport said. Rapoport tweeted, "#Patriots QB Cam Newton suffered a slight bone bruise today at practice, banging his hand on a helmet, source said. Not considered major at all, but since it’s the Spring, we may not see much more of him until training camp."

Rap is saying it's from a helmet, others have said the injury was from getting hit with a light pad from a coach. Nobody knows but if it's minor, why would Cam be out? Sure we can choose to believe it's so he doesn't hurt it more but due to NFL rules Belichick doesn't have to release the injury report. So we have to take the Patriots at their word. Belichick also loathes the media. And we all know Robert Kraft likes to make money.

Here's a wild thought, and don't take this as fact but what if the Patriots had Newton fake the injury and told him to take half a day of practice? Mac Jones needs the extra workout time, and the Patriots need to sell Stidham.

Ask yourselves what was the second biggest story from camp friday. After the Newton injury, it was how great Stidham looked. Newton can return to practice without the media there, then sit out with the media around and with the 'Patriots way', we'd never know because they would keep it in house. It's an almost perfect plan, it's Belichick like, and it's not out of the realm of possibility.

The emergence of Stidham has created hype that he could possibly challenge for the starting job. What does that do, it leads to merchandise sales. The Stidham bandwagon is going to buy Jerseys. Friday sold Stidham to the NFL, to get them to pay attention but it also sold him to the fanbase.

On top of that, how's it gonna look when Newton overcomes this injury, overcomes the odds and retains the starting position? Can you say cha-ching? That's more merchandise sales. Newton's a good self promoter and can see the dollar signs in this. 

Nobody outside the organization knows anything about what's actually going on. We know Belichick is a coaching genius, and the Kraft is a shrewed businessman. Combined, we know they have no issues walking in the gray area of the rules when they have to.

So while it's great to think that the Patriots might have three capable quarterbacks and disheartening if you're a Newton fan to think he's gonna miss opportunities to improve, don't. Don't be a pawn in the Patriots chess game.