The Comeback Kid: Cam Newton

On June 28, news broke that quarterback Cam Newton had reached a deal with the New England Patriots. On July 8, Newton signed the contract making it official. Prior to this, Newton spent nine years as a Carolina Panther, and proceeded to make quite a name for himself, SuperCam. After dealing with a couple of detrimental injuries and needing surgery in 2018 and 2019, Newton’s future was suddenly in question. During the 2020 offseason, the Panthers decided it was best to move on from Newton, and released him on March 24. 

Fast forward to week 3 of the NFL season, and Newton is already making an incredibly strong case for himself to win Comeback Player of the Year. After his first three games, Newton has a 68.1 completion percentage, 714 passing yards. He’s also averaging 7.8 yards per attempt, and has two touchdowns and two interceptions. Considering that Newton spent almost a year and a half injured and unable to play, as well as signing with a brand new team and given roughly a month to learn a whole new playbook and system with no preseason, the numbers and performance is impressive to say the least. 

This past Friday, Newton tested positive for COVID-19, causing him to be out for Monday night’s loss against the Kansas City Chiefs. While this is a setback for Newton, and assuming he bounces back from this and continues to play at the high level he’s been playing at through the 1st quarter of the season, the CPOTY award is his to lose. 

After the loss to the Chiefs, it is time for the Patriots to consider signing Newton to a long-term contract. It seems that Newton has been a natural fit with Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels’ offensive scheme, and giving the team a consistent run game, passing game, and a combination of both has been a huge factor this far in the season. Former quarterback Tom Brady was the definition of a pocket passer, and was able to command the air game, while the run game for the Patriots was lackluster, now that isn’t the case. Newton can have a bright future with this team.

Next week, the Patriots face off against the Denver Broncos. Assuming Newton continues to show no symptoms of COVID-19, then he can return to practice as soon as Thursday. If that’s the case, Newton should be able to return to action against the Broncos and hopefully get the Patriots back into the win column.