Cam Newton joined the New England Patriots, and before long, talking heads (on sports radio) were spewing garbage about whether the quarterback would fit in Bill Belichick’s regimented culture.
Why? Well, there isn’t an argument that comes with much merit. Early in his career, Newton was accused of being pouty during losses. Newton, acknowledging the criticism, did his best to be more positive with his body language. The quarterback also has a habit of celebrating on the field. It’s part of what makes him so fun to watch, but there’s some question as to whether Belichick will be a fan of Newton’s high-frequency celebrations.
Newton’s first NFL offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski, now at Boston College, doesn’t think the quarterback’s emotional highs and lows will be a problem.
“Cam is about the team and I think it is how he expresses those things as an emotional person,” he said during an appearance on WEEI sports radio. “You need some of that. You need some of – you want the attention, you want the ball at the end of the game, you want to be the best. Some of that comes with the territory and I think Cam has grown and matured over time. Like I said, it comes from a good place.
“The level of a competitor that he is and in the locker room how he is with the guys and I think you’ll see him out in the community and how he is with a little kid. And the things he does on his own and he’s not looking for some kind of retribution or people to say anything positive about him for what he does in the community when he just hears about things. He’s got a big heart. When you know him you take it in a different way than maybe when people just see things that don’t know him as well as we do that do.”
Newton admitted that he and Chudzinski didn’t always see eye to eye in their two seasons together from 2011 to 2012. Newton felt overwhelmed by Chudzinski’s playbook and teaching style.
“He opened the floodgates with material right from the jump. I didn’t like it then because coming from a hand signal philosophy from Auburn, it was kind of force-feeding a kid with carrots,” Newton said 730 ESPN in Charlotte in 2014. “I didn’t want to learn it, and I was always trying to complain about the workload.”
Newton has evolved significantly since those first two years in the NFL, to the point where he’s like Peyton Manning or Tom Brady at the line of scrimmage. When playing for Ron Rivera, he had the power to change just about every play after seeing the defensive look on the field.
“I think Josh (McDaniels) will really enjoy being around him. Cam loves football. He is a really unique person,” Chudzinkski told WEEI. “He’s an emotional person. I think everybody knows that. I think it comes from a great place. Extremely competitive. He wants to win and he loves a challenge. Any time he is in those situations where he feels like he has to prove himself or be at his best, whether it is a game or whether it is a time in his career at different points in his career, he’s always risen to be at his best and to play at his best.”
When it comes to the celebrations, in particular, there seems to be a fine line between what a Patriots can do to celebrate — and what he cannot. Receiver Julian Edelman celebrates just about every first down by pointing to move the chains forward. Tom Brady talks all sorts of trash and takes the field to his own theme song. Tight end Rob Gronkowski was famous for his Gronk spike after every touchdown. Surely, Newton will find ways to use his dab and Superman celebrations in a Belichick-appropriate fashion.
What’s most important is Newton’s ability to learn and execute the Patriots offense. Chudzinski seemed to have no doubts about that.
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