Patriots Part Ways With Cam Newton Starting The Mac Jones Era For Now.

In a shocking move, the New England Patriots cut 2015 league MVP Cam Newton. Newton started  15 games for the Patriots in 2020, ending with a 7-8 record. Newton was also pulled several times in 2020, mainly due to pour play.

In 2020, Cam Newton showed off that he was still a dangerous runner. Newton rushed the ball 137 times for 592 yards and 12 touchdowns. If Cam was a running back, it would be good enough to say he should still be around but Newton is a quarterback and his job is to throw the ball.

As a passer, Newton threw 368 times for 2657 yards with 8 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Newton was also sacked 31 times and according to pro football sports reference, Newton also fumbled the ball 6 times.

Here are some reasons Newton's job was on the line besides Mac Jones. According to player profiler Newton was ranked 19th in danger plays, 17th in interceptable throws. His pass catchers were ranked 13rd in the league in separation which was listed at 3rd few months ago. Het he was ranked 24th in true completions, throwing an incompletion 28.82% of his throws.

Newton was 28th in play action completion, 28th in redstone completion, 34th in pressured completion, 18th in clean pocket completion throwing 25.81% incomplete. Probably his worst ranking was his 37th rank in catchable passes. Throwing an uncatchable pass 26.89 percent of his throws. Accuracy is a trait the Patriots prize and Newton wasn't even on the same page as the rest of the league's starters in terms of accuracy.

Add to that in camp that while Newton was showing improvement in some areas, he was still looking like last year's version in many others and wasn't looking like the clear cut starter. While his rookie competition made it look like they were equals. And then the last week where Cam was out and Jones got to play against the Giants starters in practice. Some will say but the Patriots didn't let Newton run. The Patriots didn't care this preseason if Newton could run. The cared if he could pass better than Jones. He was not better than Jones as a passer. 

With Newton not being vaccinated this past week showed the Patriots just how much of a liability that he could be. That may have had something to do with it.. They lost Newton for a game in 2020 due to covid. The league was too worried about ratings or it would've been two.

A good portion of the fanbase thought that Cam would lose the job during the season. While several writers said it was just hindering production of the team to start Cam if the Patriots already felt that way. While the move made sense and there was evidence that Cam would be replaced in the end, we're all still in shock but until we hear otherwise this is classic Bill Belichick.

There is speculation of why Newton got cut. One theory is because the 49ers will be cutting Jimmy Garoppolo and that the Patriots feel he's a better fit to be a bridge. Personally I wonder If this was a Kraft decision. Everything is speculation until the Patriots say otherwise, or until a book is written.