Cam Newton To New England: What It Means

This offseason in the NFL has been full of many twists and turns as we've seen countless quality players switch teams. While it seemed for a while that Tom Brady would never leave Foxborough and the Pats, even he was apart of the player carousel and ended up in Tampa Bay. Losing the face of your franchise and one of the best players to ever touch a football obviously hurts, but New England still has Bill Belichick, the mastermind behind Brady. After Brady's departure, most assumed that former Auburn signal-caller Jarrett Stidham would be the heir to the Brady throne, but after the developments on Sunday, that may not be the case. The Patriots inked former MVP Cam Newton to a one-year deal, and here is what it means.

I don't think this move indicates that the Evil Empire isn't confident in 2nd-year QB Stidham, more so the team saw an opportunity to elevate the offense. Cam Newton, when fully healthy, is an upper-tier QB that torches defense with a cannon for an arm and wheels on the ground. The issue, though, is that "Superman" Cam hasn't been able to stay healthy. Newton played only two games in 2019, and while he didn't miss many games from 2016-2018, football fans could tell that he looked off and was battling with various injuries. Cam comes with no gurantees, we don't know what Cam we may see, but this was a low risk move by Belichick that could pay off massively. It is, however, not exactly that simple. Yes, Cam Newton is a former MVP and #1 overall pick, but he's not just gonna walk in and have the starting job handed to him. Having waited this long to add Newton, it's clear that the Patriots were content with Stidham starting. You don't wait months to add another QB option if you're super uneasy about your current situation, that just doesn't make sense. While I am not super high on Stidham myself, I'm not one to question Belichick and OC Josh McDaniels. Ulitmately, I think Cam will be the starter, but I would not be shocked if Stidham got the gig either. The acquisiton gives the Pats offensive coaches two legitimate options to start under center, which is undoubtably a great thing (for New England, not the rest of the league obviously). The one definitive thing we can take from this news, which scares me quite a bit, is this; Tom Brady or no Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots are capable of great things.