2019-2020 NFL Season (1 Viewer)

[Jeffrey D]

Cam is getting backup QB money, and will likely be the starter. I don’t see this as a fit with McDaniels’s offense- seems that a QB has to be an accurate passer to run that offense.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Cam is getting backup QB money, and will likely be the starter. I don’t see this as a fit with McDaniels’s offense- seems that a QB has to be an accurate passer to run that offense.

McDaniels had Tim Tebow running his offense for a season in Denver, so there is a precedent for him having a mobile, inaccurate QB. Cam Newton looks like Drew Brees in comparison with Tim Tebow when it comes to accuracy, and Newton's arm strength blows away Noodle Arm Tebow.

I saw that Newton's contract is actually a veteran minimum with heavy incentives, so it only counts about $1M against this year's salary cap. The remaining $6M would go against the 2021 cap, if he earns the incentives. That explains how the Patriots were able to fit him in under the cap, as he's eating up the little space they had left.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Does somebody want to start the 2020-2021 thread?

 

[Robert Crawford]

By the way, the Patriot organization gets punished again for doing something they shouldn't with a 1.1M fine and a loss of a 3rd round pick.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I am just wondering what the Pats are doing to fit this under the salary cap. The last I read, they had very little money left to spend -- no where near enough to fit in a $7M contract. They must be restructuring some existing contracts.

Other than the cap issue, the signing makes sense. New England was really rolling the dice with an inexperienced QB and no real backup. This also gives Newton a chance to show he's healthy and maybe earn a multi-year deal somewhere next season.

Well, I don't know where exactly the Pats stand with the cap but they had slotted to pay Brady, if he stayed, $25-30 million for the 2020 season. In that respect it seems a bargain to get Newton at $7.5 particularly because last year I think they paid Brady $22 million for the season.

I think Gilmore is their highest paid player right now and honestly I have not really looked at what they are paying everybody but I do not think they have a very good roster right now. So, if they are up against the cap with this team...some players on it are overpaid.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Maybe the Pats have seen something in Stidham recently that makes them less sure about him being ready to start? Going into the season with only Brian Hoyer as a fallback would be downright scary.

As for Newton, he couldn't have picked a better team to sign with where he has a chance to win the starting job. I would have loved to see the Steelers sign him, but Cam would only get a chance to play there if something happened to Ben. In New England, he only has to beat out a 2nd year player who has no starting experience.

I'm not sure what they would have or could have seen in Stidham recently only because there have been no activities at team facilities and no activities allowed per the NFL. Now I did read something about Stidham had invited Pats skill players to come work out with him and that he has been throwing to his WRs the last month or so...somewhere on their own. Maybe someone was taping that and sending it to Patriots coaches.

I think what maybe happened was Belichick saw Newton sitting there and knew he could get a huge bargain and so he took it. I certainly did not expect it because the players and coaches had been saying nothing but good things about Stidham and Stidham was acting as if he were going to be the starter. Team insiders kept reporting they were excited to see what Stidham would do.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

In New England, he only has to beat out a 2nd year player who has no starting experience.

I think there is no question if Newton is on the team and they play football in 2020 he will start. He just would be light years past Stidham in terms of talent. The only advantage Stidham has is knowing the offense. Unless Cam can't pick-up what the Patriots want him to do, which I don't think will happen, there is no way Stidham could beat him out. Plus the players on the Patriots are going to believe Newton should start and likely would be upset if he didn't. They will go into the season believing he gives them the best shot at getting back to a Super Bowl.

Plus wait until they see him throw with the team. This guy has a far more powerful arm than Brady and though they say Stidham's best quality is his arm, I doubt he is at the level of Newton.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Just remember that part of the reason why it took Newton this long to sign was because teams were unable to determine how healthy he is with their own doctors taking a look at him. The pandemic interfere with that process until recently. I wouldn't be surprise if it comes out today or later this week that Newton was examine by the Patriots doctors.

That's true and it is possible the Patriots had a doctor look at him. Newton did have doctor's reports in hand giving him a clean bill of health, he was kind of waving them around. I think the thing that most made teams back away could have been that Rivera signed his back-up rather than taking Newton onto the Redskins...nobody knows Newton as well as Rivera.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Does somebody want to start the 2020-2021 thread?

I was going to wait until late July only because I wanted to see if we were definitely getting a football season. Not thrilled with the way southern and western states are looking right now. That could kill or delay the season. I think they are counting on Covid declining in those states by late July. This would likely mean no preseason games, which is no big loss but I think we are still waiting on Covid info before we know what will happen.

With all the player movement I am really looking forward to this season, plus DirectTV gave it to us for free...but obviously it is hard to say at this point what this season will look like.

I am looking at what other big events are doing, like the Indy 500 for example. That was moved to August and certainly they could do that event with no fans in the stands as the drivers are in their own cars and the crews are separated and wearing lots of equipment. However, not sure that's how they want to run that event.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Cam is getting backup QB money, and will likely be the starter. I don’t see this as a fit with McDaniels’s offense- seems that a QB has to be an accurate passer to run that offense.

My guess would be that Newton will not run the same offense Brady ran. McDaniels will likely adapt what they are doing for Newton and his style of play. Josh has a good track record with adjusting things for whomever is on the field. I don't expect the Patriot offense to operate the same way it did with Brady. He was a coach on the field. Receivers were expected to adjust routes on the fly when they saw what defenders were doing knowing Brady should be reading the same thing. With Newton I do not expect that kind of thing to happen...at least not in the first 8 games he plays with them. I would expect the same change and adapt game planning but adjusted to wherever Newton and Stidham or whomever is under center is at.

The word was that Edelman had attached himself at Stidham's hip, the same way he did with Brady. I can only imagine that poor Jarrett is going to feel very lonely when he sees Julian cuddling with Cam.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Also in the news...the Seahawks want to sign Antonio "Mr. Big Chest" Brown whenever the NFL gives the green light for that to happen. Brown apparently is excited to play with Wilson as his QB and loves the idea. Hey Pete, have you talked to the Steelers, Raiders, or Patriots about this player? He's pretty much poison.

Well, good luck to the Seahawks with that guy.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Things would be just a little bit nicer if owners had the self-control to not bring in
players who were disruptive for previous teams. A lot of this jerk behavior would stop if the players knew no other team would give them a chance if they don’t want to be
a functioning part of a team.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

One area where Belichick and Newton will have a ton in common is both are famous for their post game pressers being totally obnoxious. So, there is that and the New England media will be in for a long season.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I think an awesome idea would be to have Bill and Cam swap outfits for their post game pressers, so Cam in a hoodie and Bill in a specially selected Cam Newton outfit with some sort of Cam designed hairdo...or hair-don't depending on how you feel about it. Bill would look amazing in this get-up...

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Well, I don't know where exactly the Pats stand with the cap but they had slotted to pay Brady, if he stayed, $25-30 million for the 2020 season. In that respect it seems a bargain to get Newton at $7.5 particularly because last year I think they paid Brady $22 million for the season.

I think Gilmore is their highest paid player right now and honestly I have not really looked at what they are paying everybody but I do not think they have a very good roster right now. So, if they are up against the cap with this team...some players on it are overpaid.

The Pats had less than $1M of salary cap space, even with Brady no longer on the team (I think there was still some dead money for TB12 on their cap). As I mentioned in another post, Newton's contract is heavily laden with incentives, so only about $1M hits the cap this season. The incentives, if he hits them, would go against next season's cap. I read somewhere that they still need to clear an additional $300K of cap space to fit in Cam's contract. That should be easy to accomplish.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

The Pats had less than $1M of salary cap space, even with Brady no longer on the team (I think there was still some dead money for TB12 on their cap). As I mentioned in another post, Newton's contract is heavily laden with incentives, so only about $1M hits the cap this season. The incentives, if he hits them, would go against next season's cap. I read somewhere that they still need to clear an additional $300K of cap space to fit in Cam's contract. That should be easy to accomplish.

Yes, I looked it up and the Pats still have a cap hit of $13.4 million for Brady on the books for the 2020 season which sort of hilariously is more than they will pay the three QBs currently on the roster for this season.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Yes, I looked it up and the Pats still have a cap hit of $13.4 million for Brady on the books for the 2020 season which sort of hilariously is more than they will pay the three QBs currently on the roster for this season.

I thought Brady was an unrestricted free agent, so how could the Patriots have any dead money under his name? Is it because of reworked deals while he was still there?

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I thought Brady was an unrestricted free agent, so how could the Patriots have any dead money under his name?

Well, most likely because you can pay things like incentives that roll over into another year so that you can still sign players you technically can't fit under your current cap number. This is why most teams or teams with a good "cap-ologist" don't worry about the cap. There are ways to move and shift money around.

As an example the Patriots supposedly don't have any room to sign other players but they are still out there shopping for players including maybe Odell Beckham.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I thought Brady was an unrestricted free agent, so how could the Patriots have any dead money under his name? Is it because of reworked deals while he was still there?

I am sure it was because of all the re-worked contracts the Patriots did with Brady over the years to create extra cap space. The NFL salary cap rules can be pretty complex. Teams will convert salary to signing bonuses and attach extensions to basically push the cap hit down the road, counting on future increases in the cap to help cover things. I do not pretend to understand it all, though, so I am not sure how him being an unrestricted free agent fits into things.

Things could get interesting with the cap shortly, though. It's based on revenue, and if the league ends up playing with no fans in the stands this year it will affect the cap in future years. Those annual increases in the cap that GMs count on may not be there for awhile. I know the NHL is dealing with something similar right now, as they are projecting no increase in their salary cap for the next 2-3 seasons.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

The reporting on this in Boston has been sort of funny because many are saying that Newton was signed to give Stidham "competition" at the QB spot...that's absurd...and that the reason Bill signed Newton was because he could get him at such an insane bargain basement price. It was a deal Bill just could not resist.

Newton was signed to start. No question. I'm sure when Belichick saw how little he would cost with zero risk he could not resist.