From Week 1 through Week 12 of the 2018 season, Cam Newton completed 69.6% of his passes for 2699 yards, 22 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Only eight quarterbacks had more touchdown passes in that span. Only five had a higher completion percentage. Only six had a higher passer rating than Newton’s 103.7.
And then, it all fell apart.
Injuries limited Newton’s effectiveness as the 2018 season went along, and he played just two games in 2019 before he was shut down with a foot issue. Now, as several NFL teams try to figure out their quarterback situations, Newton is on the outside looking in. With team facilities closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, there’s no way for Newton to go through any kind of in-person workout or physical, so it’s likely that he’ll have to wait a while before teams are able to ascertain whether he’s more like the guy who tore the league up in the first three months of 2018, or the guy who was far less effective, and far less present, thereafter.
On Thursday, Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported that Newton is willing to take a backup role with the right team, obviously hoping that he could replicate what Ryan Tannehill was able to do with the Titans last year — start off as a backup with barely a blip on the radar, and then take over as the presumed starter (Marcus Mariota in this case) was found to be lacking.
From NFL Now: Free agent QB Cam Newton has not ruled out a backup QB job in the right situation, I'm told. He wants to be (and should be) a starter. But he's open to being a backup. pic.twitter.com/g89M6vAgyv
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 7, 2020
If that’s the case, here are the best places for Newton to ply his trade, and bring his career back to the forefront, once the environment is more hospitable.
New England Patriots
At this time, it appears that the Patriots are all-in on Jarrett Stidham, the 2019 fourth-round pick out of Auburn, despite the fact that in his rookie year, Stidham completed just two of four passes to his own receivers, and one pass to Jets safety Jamal Adams, who ran that pass back for a touchdown. So, at this point, Stidham has more touchdown passes to the Jets than he does to the Patriots. Perhaps he’s not the ideal guy to replace Tom Brady right away?
Newton, as I’ve pointed out, would be an ideal candidate for the Patriots in a number of ways. Newton has far more experience than Stidham does. From 2012 through 2019, Newton ran strains of the Erhardt-Perkins offense the Patriots have run since Bill Belichick became their head coach in 2000. Moreover, Newton would give Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels the ability to add mobility to the playbook that was never there with Brady, no matter how great Brady was (and is).