The New England Patriots first season with Cam Newton did not go as well as head coach Bill Belichick hoped. Making the situation worse, the franchise played its first season without Tom Brady on the roster for the first time since 2000. The Patriots missed the playoffs finishing the season with a 7-9 record.
Despite that, the Patriots brought Cam Newton back on another 1-year deal. They did however draft Mac Jones from Alabama in the first round. With that being said, Newton is still the starter as of now.
Last year Newton did not get a normal or full offseason with his new team. Belichick has taken note of that and acknowledge the improvement already.
Cam’s way ahead of where he was last year at this time. There’s no question about that, I mean, as you would expect, he has a good year of experience under his belt and he’s able to start the process at the beginning and not be in a catch-up mode like he was last year. I mean, he was really just starting at this point last season, but he’s well ahead of that just from the year of experience and from the succession of building blocks that he’s been able to stack up, like all the players have that have been here since the start of the OTA and the offseason program back in April, that they’ve been able to stack those days and those learning experiences together, ask questions on things that they need clarification on and build to the next level when they’re ready to put another brick on the pile.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick via team transcript NFL.com
This is good news for Newton as many voices around the league felt the Patriots were going to move on from Cam after a subpar performance during the 2020 season.
Newton added the following comments about where he is currently at compared to last year.
I have a constant note that I remind myself each and every day: Pre-snap comfort will help post-snap results for me. Last year, Josh, Josh’s system, was something that has worked for decades and decades, so for me it was up to me to learn it as much as possible, and I’m so grateful to have another opportunity to learn it as much as I possibly can. In the latter part of the season, it just caught up to me. I was thinking too much. I was trying to be something, you know, when there wasn’t enough hours in the day. It wasn’t like we weren’t working. Jedd [Fisch] at the time, the QB coach, we were putting in hours and hours. You can’t simulate real, live bullets and that’s what it came down to. It wasn’t anything as far as mechanics. It was more less overthinking and the comfort level.
Cam Newton , via NFL Network’s Mike Giardi. “
This is a very important year for Cam Newton. If he does not perform well the opportunities to show he can still play are going to become slim. The Patriots are a long way away from their Super Bowl days with Tom Brady as they find themselves in unfamiliar territory.
