Head coach Bill Belichick declared Cam Newton the starter after drafting Jones and said someone would have to out play him for the job. Belichick reaffirmed that decision during the preseason. While Mac Jones did well enough to presume he would start at some point during the 2021 season, very few thought that he out performed Cam enough or that Cam had done enough to lose the week one start.
In a surprise move on Tuesday August 31st, the Patriots cut quarterback Cam Newton. It's been four days and Cam Newton still is unsigned. There are many speculations why, ranging from nobody wants him to he doesn't want to be a back up. The "Brother From Another" podcast put out a theory that I haven't heard anyone else talk about. That theory is that Cam Newton is waiting on the Patriots to resign him.
The Patriots backups quarterbacks are the same if not worse than last year. Stidham is on the injured reserve and Hoyer is on the practice squad. The Patriots signed quarterback Garrett Gilbert to the active roster. Gilbert doesn't know the playbook and isn't likely to be any good if Jones can't start. In that case it would make sense to bring back Newton over calling up Hoyer. And for Belichick to ask Cam to wait around.
Newton spent thirteen months with the team. He managed the team to a seven and eight record, missing a game due to covid. He should know the playbook, although former Patriots defender turned sports personality Rob Ninkovich claims "Mac Jones was teaching Cam the playbook."
Even if Newton was waiting for the Patriots to re-sign him, it would make sense for him to take any starting job that would come along in the meantime. For now it's a waiting game but Newton remains unsigned in free agent purgatory. I am going to put out there that we may have seen Newton throw his last pass in the NFL.
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