Patriots: Cam Newton Deal Proves Bill Belichick is Scared of Brady Having Success

The Cam Newton deal showed that Bill Belichick didn’t think his previous QB room could get the job done.

Cam Newton picked the wrong year to be on the open market, not that it was his choice.

It won’t take much effort to remember a year ago when Carolina was flaunting Newton’s “new football mechanics” consisting of a short and sweet delivery — similar to a catcher making a quick throw to second base to nab a runner stealing. It was Newton’s shoulder we were all concerned with. Then the foot injury came, causing him to miss the rest of the 2019 season, but tell me, did his shoulder look great in the games he played in 2019? The last game he played in 2019 against Tampa Bay was on a Thursday night, and he was skipping balls during a two-minute drill.

Newton wasn’t signed right away after his release from Carolina for two reasons. First, teams were worried that the Panthers knew something they did not know regarding his injury history. Second, coaches and GMs have egos, and they want to make “their guys” work.

Chicago and Jacksonville can’t possibly say with a straight face that Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles are a better option at QB than Newton, nor are Gardner Minshew and Mike Glennon. When you consider the contract Newton has in New England, it is laughable how much of a bargain the team is getting for a former MVP.

The Patriots organization can say “ignore the noise” or “forget about the outside” as much as they want, but even their coach is human, maybe. Belichick knows that his team’s strengths heading into 2020 are their secondary, their offensive line, and their running backs. We can scream that Jarrett Stidham is “actually pretty good” as loud as we want, but the reality is that we have no idea.

The only regular-season tape we have to evaluate Stidham on comes from when he went in against the Jets in Week 3, only to be pulled after a pick-six put Tom Brady back in the game. Belichick knows that in his first year in 20 years without Brady, this isn’t the season to whip out a 6-10 record with Stidham at the helm.

Belichick has an ego. It is only natural when everyone calls you a genius for the past two decades, and I am sure that this Newton deal was to try and prevent disaster in 2020. I will continue to call Belichick a genius, though, because that is exactly what signing Cam Newton was.

New England was on a one-way highway to a dismal season with Stidham.

As mentioned, the strength of the Patriots’ offense is their offensive line and their running backs. Adding Newton provides another dynamic that the defense has to account for, and will open up even more holes for the backs running behind the spectacular offensive line.

Newton has a strong arm, too — it’s not just running for him. In 2018, he had his best completion percentage of his career at 67.9%. Although Newton has never had a single-digit interception total in a season, we can assume that Josh McDaniels and Bill Belichick can creep that number down just a bit. I predict that Belichick will not be asking Newton to go out there and win them a game by himself; he won’t need Newton to do that. The Patriots have the reigning DPOY in Stephon Gilmore and a defense that won’t give up many points. If Newton continues to be dynamic, completes his passes at a high rate, and doesn’t turn the ball over, it is a game-changer for New England.

This whole move boils down to Belichick being worried that Brady will have a better year without him than he will have without Brady. As I said, it is only natural.

Before the Newton deal, I’d say put all your money on the Bucs to win more games than New England in 2020. Brady has Gronk, Evans, Godwin, Howard, Brate, Arians coaching, and Tom Moore as an offensive consultant. Brady has been getting work in with these guys, and my guess is that offense won’t be a problem in Tampa Bay. The defense won’t be too bad either, as they have Todd Bowles running that department.

Now with Newton in New England, it won’t be as much of a landslide for Brady. If Newton does well in 2020, I know New England fans will be itching to re-sign him and then welcome Tom Brady to the visitor’s locker room in 2021 for an epic showdown. This move really levels the playing field for Belichick and Brady. Belichick fears a bad season without Brady, and vice versa. With Tampa Bay’s stacked offense, Brady was breathing easy, but now, Belichick is back to his genius ways. Be ready for an exciting 2020 season in New England.