Cam’s Out. Mac’s Up.
At 10:05 this morning Jim McBride of the Boston Globe broke that Cam Newton had been released. 5 minutes later Adam Schefter tweeted that Mac Jones will be the new starting quarterback of the New England Patriots and set off the story of the day for sports media outlets all over.
According to an undisclosed source to Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk, The Patriots did not seek any trades with Cam Newton and went straight to cutting him off the 53-man roster. Sadly enough, that could very well mean that no one will pick up Newton and his NFL career as a quarterback will be over. Don’t feel too bad, Cam still gets a 2 million dollar signing bonus from March and $1.5 million guaranteed base salary, subject to offset.
In his last performance in a Patriots uniform, which was this past Sunday night in the Patriots 3rd and final preseason game against the Giants in New York, Cam Newton threw a pick that was not his fault. A great 40-yard ball from out of the endzone. The pass was dropped by Jakobi Meyers directly into the hands of Giants linebacker Blake Martinez. Newton ended only 2 for 5 with 10 yards in 10 snaps for the 2 offensive series of the first quarter.
Cams contract as little as it is now would make for a great backup-QB waiver pick-up for a team like maybe Washington or the Jets where there could be a lack of QB depth. Or maybe where there’s a lack of experience, somewhere like Jacksonville where Cam could mentor Trevor Lawrence.
Missing some of the past week due to COVID testing issues (Boston Sports Nation – Cam Newton 5 Day Quarantine) may have been what the final straw was in a preseason that saw Mac Jones rise up to every opportunity and expectation he faced. Certainly, exceeding the expectations of many, like myself who didn’t think Bill would go with a rookie QB to start week 1 no matter how good he looked. However, it’s not too late for the possibility of a trade with San Fran for Jimmy G.
I’d like to know why Cam can’t play the role of veteran backup QB here. I think that this QB room will miss him. And who else is staying in the 53? It can’t be both Hoyer and Stidham, it should be safe to say one more is going because I really can’t see them going 3 QB without Cam. They’re saving 1.9 million in salary cap space from Cam Newtons contract which relatively is not much for NFL standards but you know every bit counts to Bill.
And now the time that a lot of Pats fans were waiting for ever since the draft has arrived, and a lot sooner than expected. Mac Jones is now leading the ship and his era begins at the season opener in Foxboro against the Dolphins.
Go Pats.
