We've finally heard from Cam Newton on how things ended with the Patriots in a YouTube video posted Friday.
“I’m not bitter,” Newton said. “I don’t want nobody to think I’m mad. It’s business.”
Newton's biggest points:
- He was surprised by his release and was not given a chance to remain as a backup, something he would have been fine with;
- Newton thinks the team thought he would have been a distraction, or at least it would have been uncomfortable for Mac Jones. "Let me be honest with you. If they would have asked me, 'Cam, we're going to give the team to Mac, you're going to be second-string; we expect you to be everything and some to guide him throughout this tenure,' I would have said, 'Absolutely,'" he said. "But listen, the truth of the matter is this: He would have been uncomfortable."
- Doesn't think his Covid absence was a primary reason for release. "Do I think this would have happened without me being away from the team for five days? Honestly, yes. It was going to happen. Did it help ease the decision? Yes."
- Newton saw things shift at practice, as we told you at the time at BSJ, specifically the 11-on-11 drives there Newton and Jones both got drives with the starters. "When I look back at it, I was probably getting two reps to his 10 reps. And that's why it was starting to make sense," Newton said. "Even though I was starting, that doesn't necessarily mean nothing. ... I think that's where they did a good job with kind of disguising it. 'Cam took first-team reps today.' But (the media) didn't know the practice structure. The first team goes down, the second team goes back, and then the first team comes back, too. And that's when (Jones) was getting his first-team reps."
- On his trip that triggered the five day absence. "This had nothing to do with no vaccination. They gave me clearance to go. I'm owed a second opinion. This was the last time I felt that I was going to have an opportunity to get a second opinion," Newton said. "Not to say the personnel with the Patriots wasn't coherent to telling me everything I needed to know, but having four eyes on it is better than having two eyes on it, in my opinion. It wasn't that I was having any issues or pain. I just wanted to do a checkup with the person who, in essence, diagnosed me with the Lisfranc. I felt obligated to kind of check back in with a six-month review. ... I crossed all the lines, I checked all the boxes, I dotted all my 'I's,' and then to find out that I had to sit out, that's when I kind of felt like bamboozled because 'Y'all told me to go.' It wasn't like, 'Cam, you know if you go, you're taking it on your risk.'"
- Would Newton have gone knowing what he knows now? "Absolutely not."
- Newton was released in a meeting with Bill Belichick and Matt Patricia in a different room than Belichick's office. "We greeted each other and just started talking," Newton said. "At that time they told me they were going to give the reins to Mac. I was like, 'Cool.' It didn't dawn on me, 'Y'all releasing me?' I was confused. We all were shocked. It was all uncomfortable for everybody."... The reason why they released me is because, indirectly, I was going to be a distraction, without being a starter. Just my aura. That's my gift and my curse. When you bring Cam Newton into your facility [and] your franchise, people are interested by mere fact of 'Who is he? Why does he wear his hair? Why does he talk? Why does he act? Why does he perform?' All these questions."
- Denied that Mac Jones was teaching him the playbook, but admitted the Patriots' scheme was a challenge. "I've never been in a system that required me to know the MIKE, know the front, to identify certain fronts...Half of the NFL-I'd say 30 of 32 teams don't run this philosophy. It's in the center's call because he runs the protection"
- "There's nothing that I could do. Mac Jones didn't beat me out. But I would have been a distraction knowing that - if they would have given him the starting role - the perception it would have had. ... With that roster, you can win right now. If you go 4-1 or 5-0, you can't - you're locked in."
BSJ ANALYSIS
I don't really have an issue with anything that Newton said, other than that Jones didn't beat out Newton (he did) and that Newton's presence as the backup would make Jones uncomfortable.
I'm telling you, I don't think Jones gives two craps about Newton. I think Jones knows he's better and is never letting the job go, so he wastes no time on Newton.
I think it would have been uncomfortable for Belichick dealing with the media, and just noise around the team should things start off poorly.
I do agree with Newton and his dad that the Patriots didn't give Newton enough reps if he was truly in a competition for his job. He was treated as the starter and then kind of got blindsided. If his spot was in jeopardy, Newton should have been given more reps in the game to compete and to show for the other 31 teams.
But I thought that overall, just as his entire Patriots tenure, Newton handled himself very well and leaves with respect.
He didn't go full scorched Earth, which would have made him look delusional.
But I'm not sure how much he helped his case to get other jobs.