In a move that probably surprised nobody, the Patriots have announced Mac Jones will be the starter this year and have cut Cam Newton.
I think everyone was expecting Jones to start, but cutting Newton is a pretty big surprise.
Surprise cut: the Patriots released Cam Newton. I understand him not winning the starting job, but I’m guessing his vaccination status and the likelihood he might undercut Mac Jones were why he’s cut rather than the backup.
That’s pretty much why I was not surprised at the move. Belichick had been fairly non-committal on Cam’s status throughout the offseason, almost as if he knew it didn’t matter since he was going to start the rookie.
Everywhere Cam has played since college, he’s been the starter. He acts and thinks like a starter. I have a hard time seeing him being content to play second fiddle while keeping his discontent quiet, especially if he’s got reporters asking him provocative questions postgame in the locker room after Mac Jones has a bad game.
Throw in the vax stuff and I can see why the Cam experiment comes to an end in New England.
Whaaaaat? Hahaha. There was literally an article in the Boston Globe yesterday by their veteran sports columnist saying that of course Newton was going to be the starter, they never should have even bothered speculating about it, and Belichick would never start the season with a rookie QB. So, I think at least that columnist is quite surprised.
Judging by the amount of surprise my lack of surprise received, it could also be that after 35 years of watching football, I still don’t understand the first damn thing about how rosters work.
Here is that article I mentioned.
Cam and Mac. Mac and Cam. It’s been a sports radio talk-a-thon, a gridiron soap opera, getting us through a hot/rainy August while waiting for games that finally count in September.
Why did we waste our time wondering?
The Patriots final preseason game was Sunday night in the Meadowlands against the Giants (a 22-20 Patriot win) and it’s clear there was never any real competition for the job of Patriots’ starting quarterback.
Cam Newton got the start for the Patriots Sunday. Again. Even after a “misunderstanding” that took him away from the team for five days and would have landed any other Patriot a week in the Cooler. Not Cam.
Belichick loves Newton and there’s nothing that’s going to move Cam down the depth chart before New England’s season opener Sept. 12 against the Dolphins.
It doesn’t matter to Bill. He’d rather stick needles in his eyes than turn to a rookie quarterback. And he absolutely does not want to be embarrassed by a first-round draft pick when Tom Brady and the Super Bowl champion Bucs come to Foxboro for the regular-season game of the century Oct. 3.
Wow. Talk about getting it wrong.
I’m going to assume that Cam Newton would not have been cut if he had been vaccinated. With that assumption, how much money did Newton just lose because he’s not vaccinated? What an idiot.
I’m not an expert on these things but from what I can read, he was guaranteed just over $3.5m and could have potentially earned another $1.5m if he played. So he already got his money for the most part.
Not bad considering that he made less than $2m total last year. This was more the Patriots’ loss than his, because he represents a good amount of dead money for them. ($3.6m)
It looks like the Saints’ opening game, which is scheduled to be a home game against the Packers on September 12th, will need to be played elsewhere, due to the damage in New Orleans left by Hurricane Ida. The Saints are currently practicing at the Cowboys’ facilities, but it does not look like AT&T Stadium would be an option for that game, due to a concert scheduled at the stadium three days later.
Yeah, Tulane was set to host OU at home this weekend. That’s clearly off. They’ll be playing in Norman instead as a “home” game for Tulane. That’s not great but at least the ticket proceeds will go back to New Orleans, which will definitely need it.
Watching Shaughnessy step on his dick like that fills me with unutterable joy.
You and me both 
Me three. What a dork.
ZOMG! Cam Newton has been released.
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/qb-cam-newton-reacts-release-154615332.html
ETA: Ninja’d…by only a half a day, lol
I never understood Belichick getting Newton. It only makes sense in the context of losing a mega-star like Brady and then realizing “Wait, I really don’t have another QB that can hold Brady’s jock strap.” Newton was a name, and he was available. But that was it.
p.s. There’s no pressure on Mac Jones or anything, lol
To be fair, Belichick has, historically, had considerable success at bringing in veteran players whom other teams had given up on, or who were believed to be on the downside of their careers (e.g., Randy Moss, Corey Dillon, Junior Seau), and gotten good performances from them. Obviously, it didn’t work out nearly so well in Newton’s case.
Some interesting tidbits from cutdown day. Cam Newton no longer a Patriot. Big names out for at least 6 weeks (Michael Thomas, David Bakhtiari, Stefon Gilmore). The Lions have no kicker.
My favorite was that the Raiders spent 3.25 million to have John Brown not play a game, but be on their roster for 5 months of the off season.
I agree with both of these takes.
To me, the Cam signing came off as a desperation move after losing Brady to free agency. They needed a name and Cam was available. Throw in Belichick’s history with being a troubled player whisperer, and it kind of made sense in a way. (troubled in this sense in the football career sense, as he had battled injuries the last years in Carolina and there were questions whether he was going to continue being the guy moving forward, not in a criminal or behavioral sense)
Maybe he hoped that Josh McDaniel could cook up some offense for Newton in his little laboratory.