It wasn’t until June to get there, and it wasn’t all that money, but Cam Newton is officially out of the market.
His signing with the New England Patriots changed the perception of the quarterback market this offseason, even if nothing escapes the idea that Newton’s health and the difficult conditions of the offseason harm his cause.
If there hadn’t been a coronavirus pandemic, could things have happened differently for the old MVP? Absolutely. A clearer medical image and no restrictions on teams using free agents for visits could have created a completely different market.
Even so, it is fair to wonder if some teams have made the right calls to QB.
The Chicago Bears are among these teams. And maybe we could also add the Indianapolis Colts to this list. At the end of the 2020 season, a healthy Newton could inspire more teams to experience this.
It is true that the patience of the Patriots probably paid in the form of a discount; According to Jeff Howe of The Athletic, the Patriots only intensified their interest in Newton once he “relaxed his contractual requirements.”
What was preventing the Bears and the other teams from playing the same way?
Competition for the holder
The Bears are such a curious study, and their quest for a franchised quarterback seems to be entering its fourth decade now.
By refusing Mitchell Trubisky’s fifth year option – which is only guaranteed for injuries – the Bears sent a message that they were unhappy with his development. Head coach Matt Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace have now said there is an “open competition” in Chicago. But in exchange for Nick Foles, they simultaneously sent the message that they hope Trubisky can always show something.
Taking Foles and the $ 21 million remaining on his restructured deal (and giving up a fourth-round pick to do so) may seem like the quintessential favorite to win the job at the start of training camp. After all, even Chase Daniel might agree that it’s a bit for a backup QB.
Couldn’t they have done the same with Newton? At most, Newton could win $ 7.5 million this season in New England. The Foles’ agreement seems terrible, even for a QB which led a Super Bowl not long ago.
His experience with three Bears coaches – Nagy, as well as new assistants John DeFilippo and Bill Lazor – certainly needs to be balanced. In this offseason, it appears that the Bears wanted a quarterback capable of quickly digesting the offense, and the Foles mate is considered a quick study that should immediately fall back into the Nagy system, which is derived from the offense that the Foles led with the Philadelphia Eagles.
We will leave it to you, dear reader, to decide whether it is a smart or completely reckless tactic. Especially for a Bears and GM coach whose job security could be directly linked to the team’s performance this coming season.
Were Cam Newton’s injuries so disturbing?
If you are skeptical about Newton’s health, that’s understandable. His foot injury was serious enough that his long-term prognosis was worrying. Even though Newton’s recent training video suggests he’s moving better, there’s no real way to tell if he’s good for the short or long term.
Newton also has a surgically repaired shoulder that made him miss the very end of the 2018 season. This may be the lesser of two concerns, but it cannot be ignored.
His health is a big reason (without a full medical assessment) why Newton had to wait so long – and get so little money guaranteed – this off-season.
Don’t the Poles also have questions about injuries? He suffered from a broken collarbone last season which cost him the starting job; The Poles recovered him briefly at the end of last season but were sidelined for bad play. It was the second injury of its kind in the past five years.
Some guys (just ask Aaron Rodgers) seem to be more prone to such things. And did you know that Foles is six months older than Newton?
NFL. Newton, meanwhile, had missed only five of the first 128 regular-season games of his career through December 2018." data-reactid="64">Foles has never played 16 full games in the NFL. Newton, meanwhile, had only missed five of the first 128 regular season games in his career until December 2018.
And to go further, if the Bears hoped that Trubisky would prosper, Newton’s health should not have been as important a concern – and it would have been cheaper than the Foles.
Philip Rivers must prove that he has $ 25 million to make the Colts feel justified in their offseason plan. (Photo by David Eulitt / Getty Images)
The Colts could have made an even bigger mistake
Let’s say that, for the sake of argument, Newton is in good health when entering training camp.
Which QB would you prefer: a 31-year-old Newton, five years withdrawn from an MVP price and costing as much as a high-priced backup, or a Philip Rivers soon 39 years out of $ 25 million, fully guaranteed?
As with the Bears and Trubisky, the Colts have some familiarity from the coaching staff with Rivers. And to be honest, Rivers has not missed an injury game since taking office in 2006.
But if you think about a performance pay wavelength, Rivers better be pretty good with the Colts in 2020 – far better than his respectable statistics in 2019 suggest.
The Colts didn’t think they could take this proverbial step with Jacoby Brissett, and that’s an understandable view. Brissett took a step back from eight solid first games in 2019 (64.8% success, 1649 passing yards, 14-3 TD-INT), suffered a knee injury that caused him to miss a game complete and led to late season difficulties (56.40% completion, 1,293 passing yards, 4-3 TD-INT ratio).
Still, it’s not hard to imagine a healthy Newton playing at a level comparable – or higher – than that of Rivers in 2020.
Colts head coach Frank Reich and general manager Chris Ballard strengthened an already good racing game this offseason, adding second rounder Jonathan Taylor and defenseman Roosevelt Nix to a offense that ranked seventh in rushing yards per game one year ago. Indianapolis wants to dominate up front and open up action-play possibilities that make sense. Rivers has indeed been an excellent game passer for most of his career. But Newton too, when he is in good health, and adds an element to the racing game that could have made the Colts’ ground attack even more diverse.
On top of that, the Colts don’t have a clear QB for the future – not even a Trubisky player whose fragility they have to take into account. Brissett is a free agent at the end of the season, and Ballard has warned us to slow down on Jacob Eason, the fourth round of 2020.
We’ll see if Rivers can fill the void the Colts hope for. Comparing his 2020 performance with Newton’s will end up being fascinating at the end of the season.
And if Newton plays at a level close to the level he was in the middle of the 2018 season, there will be more teams than the Bears and Colts who will regret not having played it.
