Auburn coach Guz Malzahn has his own business to attend to in the upcoming football season, but he’s still keeping a close watch on the New England Patriots’ looming quarterback competition between Cam Newton and Jarrett Stidham.
Few people on the planet understand the dynamics at play better than the man that coached them both in college and helped catapult their NFL careers.
Even if there is no replacing Tom Brady, Malzahn is completely confident the Patriots have at least two quarterbacks in the room capable of stepping up to the challenge and excelling.
“I think both of them could handle that without a problem,” Malzahn said in a telephone interview, via The Boston Globe. “The thing about Cam is you’re talking about one of the better quarterbacks in NFL history already. He’s already proved that. With Jarrett, the fact that he was in the system for a year, that he learned under Tom, I know his mind-set. He’s ready to take over himself. Either one of them is prepared, but Cam has already done it. They’re both competitors now; both of them are going to compete. It’ll be good competition, but I really expect it to be a real healthy quarterback room. If you’re New England, it’s a great situation.”
There was a time in the NFL when Newton looked like the successor to Brady in another jersey.
He was the unstoppable, real-life video game cheat code imposing his will on opposing defenses. But time moves at an accelerated pace in the NFL, and those former glory days have already been buried and forgotten.
Newton, a former league MVP, landed with the Patriots on a one-year deal with a base salary of $1.05 million—a slap in the face sort of wake-up call for a man some considered the best player in the league five years ago.
Stidham definitely has a leg-up after spending his rookie season in the Patriots system behind Brady, but Newton should be the favorite to win the starting job.
It’s no mere coincidence the team’s Super Bowl odds jumped from 25-1 to 20-1 after he signed.
“One thing I’ll guarantee is [Newton will] be extremely hungry and motivated,” said Malzahn. “He thrives off of situations like that, and I’ve seen that look before. He’ll play really well, in my opinion.”