The Best Option for Cam Newton, Patriots Is 2021 Reunion

The 2020 season is one best forgotten by quarterback Cam Newton and the New England Patriots. The Patriots posted a losing record for the first time since 2000 and missed the postseason for the first time since 2008. Newton threw just eight touchdown passes and 10 interceptions in 15 games.

Given those struggles (and Tom Brady leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a victory in Super Bowl LV) there's been no shortage of talk regarding big changes under center in Beantown, whether it's via a trade, signing a veteran free agent or selecting a signal-caller early in the 2021 draft.

But while the team's fanbase might not want to hear this after New England's first losing season in two decades, the reality is the problems that plague the Pats go well beyond the quarterback position.

And the best thing for both Newton and the team may well be giving their union one more shot.

For his part, the 2015 NFL MVP said he's down for Round 2. While appearing on the I Am Athlete podcast, Newton emphatically said he'd be willing to sign a one-year deal to stay with the Patriots and that he believes his second year with the team would be much more successful than the first (via Chris Mason of MassLive):

"Yes. Hell yes. I'm getting tired of changing. I'm at the point in my career where I know way more than I knew last year."

"They know me. Doughboy [N'Keal Harry] knows me. Jakobi [Meyers] knows me. Bud [Damiere Byrd] knows me. The young tight ends know me. The younger guys that are going to come in, 'This is how Cam reacts.' We're still trying to flush out the 20 years of how it used to be."

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

Newton isn't the only person saying it, either. While appearing on the podcast he hosts with his brother Jason, veteran safety Devin McCourty broke down some of the players being talked up as the potential starter for the Pats in 2021 and said he'd support Newton returning for a second season.

"I wouldn't mind a lot of these guys quarterbacking my team," McCourty said (h/t Ryan Hannable of WEEI). I'll start off by saying I wouldn't mind seeing my guy Cam Newton come back. I thought he had a tough [situation] coming in—no offseason, no anything. [He] played in a Super Bowl and won a MVP."

Right about now, the heads of many Patriots fans are shaking back and forth so violently that they could conceivably spin a complete 360 degrees like an owl's head. And those, um, reservations aren't without merit.

Last year, Newton threw for just 177.1 yards per game—a career low and dead last among NFL signal-callers with at least 150 pass attempts. No quarterback with as many pass attempts as Newton (368) had fewer touchdown passes, and nine quarterbacks with fewer attempts finished with more touchdown tosses than Newton. The Patriots finished the season 30th in the league in passing yards, ahead of just the New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens.

But in Newton's defense, it wasn't all terrible. The 10-year veteran completed 65.8 percent of his passes, which was the second-best season of his career in that regard. Newton's 7.2 yards per attempt tied for the most since his MVP season in 2015. Newton was also a force on the ground, rushing for 12 scores. That was the most since his rookie season.

As McCourty mentioned, with the COVID-19 pandemic wiping out the offseason, Newton was thrown cold into a new offense. That offense also wasn't exactly loaded with receiving talent—the team's leading pass-catcher was Meyers, with just 729 yards.

Some might be concerned that Newton's return won't make it any easier for the Patriots to use some of their $62.2 million in cap space to procure upgrades at wide receiver. But Doug Kyed of NESN isn't buying that:

Now, if the Patriots acquired, say, Deshaun Watson of the Houston Texans or Derek Carr of the Las Vegas Raiders, that would be a different story. But the odds of the Patriots winning the Watson sweepstakes aren't good, and if they did, the cost both in terms of cash and draft capital would be astronomical. There has been no definitive word that Carr is even available, and if he is placed on the market, the 29-year-old isn't going to come cheap.

Scratch those two off the list, and it's fair to question just how much better the veteran quarterbacks out there would be than Newton—if at all.

Jimmy Garoppolo of the San Francisco 49ers is younger, has a history with the Pats and led the Niners to the Super Bowl in 2019. But he also has missed at least 10 games in two of the past three seasons and carries a cap hit of $26.4 million.

Never mind that San Francisco continues to insist the 29-year-old isn't available.

Marcus Mariota of the Raiders hasn't started a game since losing his status as No. 1 quarterback for the Tennessee Titans to Ryan Tannehill in 2019. Ryan Fitzpatrick had a decent 2020 campaign in Miami, but at 38 years old he's at best a short-term stopgap who may prefer playing for a team like Washington that appears closer to contending. Mitchell Trubisky of the Bears was the No. 2 overall pick in 2017, but his four years in Chicago were up-and-down (to be kind) and the 26-year-old is likely looking for a multiyear commitment.

None of that last group is suddenly going to turn the Pats into a legitimate playoff contender, and that's another reality the Patriots need to face. New England might be able to win nine games and sneak into the periphery of the postseason hunt, but there's no magic bullet that will fix these Patriots. The offense is too short on skill-position talent. The defense has lost too many key contributors.

There's also a perception that some free agents might not want to play for Bill Belichick after reports surfaced that Matthew Stafford asked specifically not to be traded to New England.

But during the podcast interview, Newton made it clear he has no problem at all playing for Darth Hoodie.

Doug Murray/Associated Press

"I think Bill Belichick is the most misunderstood person in all of sports," Newton said. "He dope as s--t."

Newton isn't a long-term answer at quarterback in New England. But he doesn't need to be. Signing him to a short-term deal doesn't at all preclude the team from looking at rookies like Mac Jones of Alabama or Trey Lance of North Dakota State with the 15th overall pick.

What it does preclude is the team throwing a bunch of draft capital and salary-cap space at a player like Carr or Garoppolo who may not be the drastic upgrade the team is hoping for. Or signing another veteran stopgap who may not be an upgrade at all. Or throwing a rookie quarterback who isn't ready to the proverbial wolves.

The Patriots get to at least tread water under center while either grooming their quarterback of the future or landing an even better draft slot in 2022. Newton gets one more go-round as a starter. One last chance to prove there aren't 32 people at his position better than he is, as he stated on the podcast.

It's not a splash move. Or a move that will thrust the Patriots back into the position of prominence the franchise enjoyed for so long.

But it's the right move, nonetheless.