New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick didn’t just select quarterback Mac Jones as the starter. He also decided to part ways with Cam Newton.
It’s a curiosity. Not only did Newton lose the job as QB1, but he lost his job altogether. Why?
Newton said in February he believed he was one of the best 32 quarterbacks in the NFL, which may have led to him asking for his release this week. Perhaps he believed he could start elsewhere if New England wouldn’t give him a shot. But there are other reasons why the Patriots might have decided to part ways with him. Belichick was asked if Newton’s decision not to be vaccinated played a part in the quarterback’s release.
“No,” Belichick said Wednesday. “You guys keep talking about that, but I would just point out that — I don’t know what the number is, you guys can look it up, you have the access to a lot of information — the number of players and coaches and staff members that have been infected by COVID in training camp who have been vaccinated is a pretty high number. So I wouldn’t lose sight of that.”
Between Aug. 1 and Aug. 21, 68 players and staff tested positive out of 7,190 tested individuals. The incidence rate among those who were unvaccinated was seven times higher than those who were vaccinated.
Newton was subject to different and more stern rules because he was not fully vaccinated. He accidentally violated those protocols, and was forced to miss five days of work. During Newton’s time away, Jones emerged, playing some of his best football of the summer. If the Patriots had kept Newton as the backup, the quarterback might have been subject to the same protocols, which make him more likely to miss time.
So a reporter pressed: given Newton’s violation and sterner set of rules, was Belichick certain that vaccination status had no part in this decision?
“No, we have other players on the team who aren’t vaccinated as — I would say — does every other team in the league,” Belichick said. “We’ve had minimal, but throughout the league there have been a high number — quite a high number I would say — of players who have had the virus who have been vaccinated. Your implication that vaccination solves every problem — I would say that has not been substantiated, based on what’s happened in training camp this year.”
Belichick’s comments lack proper context, considering the numbers already cited in this story. Regardless, Newton is no longer a Patriot. And we have yet to hear why, exactly, New England did not keep the quarterback after naming Jones the starting quarterback.
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