Latest on Cam Newton's Salary, Patriots Contract Incentives Entering Week 16

The contract Cam Newton signed with the New England Patriots was heavy on incentives, but the quarterback appears likely to only cash in on less than half of the max deal.

According to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk, Newton is currently projected to make $3.706 million, well short of the $7.5 million possible in 2020 if everything went right.

The quarterback's contract featured just $1.05 million in base salary with bonuses based on playing time, playoff wins and selections to the Pro Bowl and All-Pro teams, as Field Yates of ESPN initially broke down:

New England has already been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs at 6-8 entering Week 16, which takes away several bonuses. It's the first time the organization has missed the postseason since 2008 when Tom Brady missed almost the entire year with a torn ACL.

The individual accolades were also out of the question for Newton as he struggled with consistency.

The former MVP had only five passing touchdowns in 13 starts, throwing 10 interceptions on his way to a 79.6 quarterback rating. He added 11 rushing touchdowns, but it wasn't enough for a Pro Bowl selection and certainly won't be enough to get All-Pro honors.

It leaves the playing time incentives with Newton appearing in 13 of 14 possible games this year (he missed one game while on the reserve/COVID-19 list). If he starts the final two games, Florio projected the quarterback to finish with 80-90 percent of the team's offensive snaps to add $2 million to his base salary.

He should also get $656,250 from per-game bonuses if he finishes the year with 15 games played.

If the Patriots do make a switch at quarterback for the final two games, Newton could top out at $3.37 million for the year.

In either case, there are significant question marks about the 31-year-old's future in the NFL and the ability to secure a new contact in 2021.