As many may remember, Cam Newton was off to a potential MVP start at the beginning of the New England Patriots’ 2020 campaign.
The 31-year-old may have been the only quarterback who had enough infectious energy to lead the team through the departure of Tom Brady, along with the COVID-19 pandemic. There were no fans in the stadium and that energy was difficult to come by, but Newton single-handedly was the player who brought hope into Gillette Stadium.
The Patriots began the season with a convincing 21-11 win over the Miami Dolphins, where Newton had two rushing touchdowns. They followed that up with a an extremely close 35-30 loss to the Seattle Seahawks that came down to a goal-line stop against Newton’s rush attempt — he had 397 passing yards and two rushing touchdowns in that performance. New England followed that up with a 36-20 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders and the team didn’t appear to miss a beat.
Then, Newton tested positive for COVID-19 and the rest was downhill from that point. The Patriots lost a game to the Kansas City Chiefs that was close until the fourth quarter. Newton returned the following game, but he’d already missed two weeks of practice, along with learning a new system and the recovery was difficult.
During an appearance on Brandon Marshall’s ‘I Am Athlete’ podcast, Newton discussed the difficulties he went through.
“I was one of the first football players to catch it, and it happened so fast,” Newton said. “When I came back, that’s where the lack of an offseason and the lack of time in the system really showed itself. I was behind and I was thinking too much.
“The offense kept going and I was stagnant for two weeks. It was all new terminology. I wasn’t just trying to learn a system for what it was, I was learning a 20-year system in two months.”
“They threw everything at me, but I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. At the end of the day, you have to go through things in that type of manner, to show yourself that you can’t skip processes. I’d be the first person to tell you that I needed time.”
Despite having no weapons on the offensive side of the ball and practically a practice squad unit toward the end of the season, Newton finished the year with a 7-8 record while on the field. Of course he threw eight passing touchdowns and 10 interceptions, but he also rushed for 12 touchdowns and never took a play off.
Newton, who’s now a free agent, has an unclear future in the NFL but retirement isn’t on the table.
“I can’t go out like that. I hear all of that talk. My pride won’t allow me to do it,” he said. “There aren’t 32 guys better than me.”
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