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For the first time in 11 years, an NFL season has started without Cam Newton on a list. His free agent status might not change anytime soon, either.
Neither team has seriously considered adding Newton as a backup, notes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. The 10-year-old veteran quarterback confirmed on Friday that he has no plans to retire, but it may take an injury to cause Newton to reemerge.
Newton, 32, said he was “absolutely” surprised the Patriots cut him, but said the team would have made the same decision had he not been forced to spend five days away from the New England facilities due to what the organization has called a COVID-19-related misunderstanding. Rather than give the top passer their backup gig, the Pats freed Newton, who said on Friday he would have agreed to stay on as Mac Jones‘backup.
“If they’d asked me, ‘Cam, we’re going to give the team to Mac, you’re going to be Channel 2; we expect you to be all and certain to guide him throughout this mandate ”, I would have said“ Absolutely ”,Newton said during a YouTube Live video, via ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss.But listen, the truth is this: [Jones] would have been uncomfortable.
“… Mac Jones didn’t beat me. But I would have been a distraction. If they had given him the starting role, they knew the perception he would have had if success hadn’t come.. “
Although Newton was never an NFL replacement, he struggled in 2020 and signed for save-level money earlier this year. The former MVP also ranked 29th in cumulative QBR of 2016-19. The Cowboys and Washington said last week they weren’t interested in Newton, and no team has yet been linked with the former Pro Bowler.
Newton is also not vaccinated, which is an additional complication for any team interested in adding him as a replacement. While NFL protocols for unvaccinated players meant a five-day period away from the Pats, Newton explained his side of the misunderstanding that prompted Jones to train for the first team late last month. Newton’s out-of-town medical appointment was for a second opinion on Lisfranc’s injury which ended his 2019 season and required surgery in December of the same year.
“It had nothing to do with the lack of vaccination. They gave me permission to go. I am owed a second opinion. It was the last time I felt I was going to have the opportunity to get a second opinion ”, Newton spoke about the problem with the feet. “Not to say the Patriots staff weren’t consistent in telling me everything I needed to know, but having four eyes on them is better than having two eyes, in my opinion. It wasn’t that I had any problems or pain. I just wanted to do a checkup with the person who, in essence, diagnosed me with Lisfranc. I felt compelled to come back somehow with a six month review.
“I crossed all the lines; I checked all the boxes; I dotted all of my “I’s” and then to find out I had to sit down, that’s when I felt like I was being bamboozled because “you got me all said to go ”. It wasn’t like [the Patriots said], ‘Cam, you know if you go, you take it at your risk. “
Regardless of how Newton’s Pats’ tenure ended, he has seen his stock drop dramatically in recent years. Former Heisman winner is running out of time to get his career back on track. But by confirming that retirement was not on the table, Newton will surely surface when quarterback injuries occur this season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
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