FOXBOROUGH, Mass.– The very first thing I discovered about Cam Newton as a Patriot was quite simple: Being a Patriot hasnt changed him.
The football field has always been where the 31-year-old is most in his component, and as he boisterously avoided on to the practice fields simply south of Gillette Stadium, at 9:53 a.m. ET on Tuesday, his energy revealed to everyone that the ex-MVP was clocking in for work. Less than a minute later, Newton playfully screamed– loudly– to a cam team in the stands. Three minutes after that, he was taking snaps with the other quarterbacks.
Its a great sign, too, that hes in this place, both physically and metaphorically. The place itself, Foxboro, has actually been a truly fortuitous one for players at Newtons position, and not simply the one hes competing to replace. As for the place hes in mentally, that Cam looked like the very same old Cam is essential, just as essential as the uniform hes wearing.
This is the important things about Newton– hes never ever been kneecapped as a football gamer like he was over the last 22 months. His 2018 season was interrupted by a second shoulder surgical treatment in as numerous fiscal year. His 2019 season was basically over prior to it started when he harmed his foot, coincidentally, a deep ball away from this practice field, on the Gillette Stadium turf last summertime. The coach who drafted him was fired. He was cut.
Superman truly wasnt Superman anymore. And for an athlete of Newtons quality, the fact that he couldnt rely on the capability that made him exceptional was a hard pill to swallow.
Thats why, having actually covered Cam for near to a decade, I took what I saw on Tuesday in Foxboro as a substantial positive. If hes bouncing around like himself once again, he most likely seems like himself again, which puts him where he requires to be. And eventually, that will assist get him where the Patriots need to him to be as they turn a significant page in the Bill Belichick era in New England.
* * *
Im on the roadway, and were taking you there over the next week on the site. So today, right here in the GamePlan, youll find …
– Some recommendations for draft prospects.
– A ranking of training school stories.
– How the holdout rules are messing with guys.
Were starting with the Patriots, and Newton, in Foxboro.
* * *
Steven Senne/AP
Seeing Newton practice on Tuesday brought me back to an empty health club in Spartanburg, S.C., where I fulfilled with him last summer. He, then-Panthers quarterbacks Scott Turner and I were discussing how Newton learns, and he raised the point that he desired to keep most of it off the field.
Due to the fact that Newton desires to replicate video game speed on the practice field. That method, on the field, he can just go.
” I treat practice as if its game-like, I think thats the only way you can get better,” Newton said. I hate looking at scripts, due to the fact that you never understand what the next circumstance is going to be, you dont know if youre gon na get an initially down in the video game or not, its gon na be third and what?
” So throughout the practice, all those things Ive seen, from fleet movement, swap movement or shifts, things like that, to actual route concepts, it becomes muscle memory when its documented and you go over as numerous times as I have, just taking a look at it. … Football is not a physical sport, its a reacting sport, whoever reacts faster. As a quarterback, clearly youre the thinker, so if you believe much faster, then youre reacting faster than the defense.”
With that in mind (and the Patriots do limit a few of what we can report here), I enjoyed Newton intently on Tuesday, to construct a tick-tock of the quarterback in his new component. That, again, started with Newton bounding out from the stadium (9:53 a.m.), screaming into the stands (9:54 a.m.), and taking snaps from center with the other QBs (9:57 a.m.).
10 a.m.: Tupacs “Ambitionz Az a Ridah” roars from the speakers. Newtons voice is clearly the loudest throughout stretch. In that sense, again, hes just who he was in Carolina.
10:07 a.m.: The offense starts practice with a walkthrough, and the very first rotation of quarterbacks exists. Jarrett Stidham takes snaps with the first group, Newton with the second group, Brian Hoyer with the 3rd group. And it doesnt take long to see that the order in which they take snaps, and groups with which theyre paired, will change throughout literally every practice period.
10:11 a.m.: Hoyer and Stidham are throwing to one another in people, and Newton and undrafted novice Brian Lewerke are doing the exact same. (Its noticeable soon how Newtons taken a preference to Lewerke. Newton has actually always been excellent with young QBs– people like Kyle Allen and Will Grier liked him in Carolina).
10:17 a.m.: Pat-and-go. The quarterbacks are warming their arms up, with Hoyer and Stidham to one side, and Newton and Lewerke to another. Not much to see here.
10:19 a.m.: Quarterbacks coach Jedd Fisch has the quarterbacks dealing with spot throws, and this is where you can see Newtons got the pop in his arm– and cool release, where it practically looks like hes aiming to put air under a toss, yet the ball comes darting out. On one set of throws, Fisch has the quarterbacks tossing off play-action, and Newton uncorks lasers from the far hashmark to the left sideline that reveal where his speed is at.
10:27 a.m.: Quarterbacks with the backs on run-game stuff, and play-action, divided into two groups on opposite ends of the field.
10:32 a.m.: Another indication of how quarterbacks are being turned– halfway through the duration, Hoyer and Stidham switch ends of the field.
10:37 a.m.: The Patriots are in dealing with pursuit drills, providing the quarterbacks some downtime. Newton is at Fischs side the whole time.
10:40 a.m.: New England goes into passing lines. And a couple things are noteworthy there. During the drill, which OC Josh McDaniels is supervising, Cam is talking with NKeal Harry, Mohamed Sanu and Devin Asiasi. Second, in between turns, Newton is getting additional tosses with Lewerke.
10:46 a.m.: 11-on-11s start. During one series, Stidham remains in, and Newton is listening to the playcall, then imitating the quarterback footwork behind the offense, to record a sort of psychological rep.
10:55 a.m.: More 11-on -11 work, this period seemingly focused more on the run video game, and now Bill Belichick is backing up the offense.
11:02 a.m.: 7-on-7s, and maybe the most noteworthy moment came when Stidham threw a 2nd consecutive choice and was changed by Newton in the drill.
11:09 a.m.: More 11-on-11, and we get another glimpse of Newtons arm strength, when he releases an outright moonshot to his ex-Carolina teammate Damiere Byrd. Byrds understood for his speed, but he cant quite capture up to this ball, which overshoots him by 2 or 3 yards.
11:18 a.m.: The Patriots offense gets another 11-on-11 period, then, by 11:22, its time for unique groups. And at that point, Newtons back over with Fisch again.
11:35 a.m.: The group does two-minute work, then completes practice with a red-zone duration. Newtons last include a competitive drill? A touchdown pass to Damien Harris.
And with that touchdown pass, Newton, Harris and the offense commemorated, and after that it was off to “Mount Belichick”– the conditioning hill at the back of the practice field– for uphill gassers to top the two-hour session.
Newton going up and down that hill with his colleagues is a tip of 2 things: 1) Hes not being handed anything here. Ill say this– if you had no concept who Newton, Stidham, and Hoyer were, and were going strictly off what you saw in practice on Tuesday, you d be 100 percent sold this is a real competition and no decisions have actually been made. 2) Newton seems to like it here, and that makes sense because Newton does carry the one prerequisite for playing here– He likes football.
What that equated to, from what I could see Tuesday, was someone who enjoyed being at a Belichick practice. If you know what Newtons gone through to get here, that makes good sense. In fact, during that talk we had last summer, he gave some insight into that, when we talked about how difficult the shoulder injury of 2018 was on him.
” The frustrating thing for me was looking at it and saying, I cant practice. I desire to practice. I cant. And if I practice now, will I have the ability to play?” he stated. “It was such a discouraging time [in 2018], since we were having such a terrific year. And outside of 4 or five video games, where we lost by four or five points, who knows? Perhaps that makes the distinction.
” The frustrating thing is, and the entire including message for the NFL, is the length of time can everyone remain healthy? And that was our demise.”.
He didnt understand it then, however it would become his demise again a few weeks later. Now that hes back once again? You can just imagine just how much he d value the possibility to be out on an NFL field, even if its just practice, in the meantime.
And on Tuesday, I didnt need to envision. I could see that with my own two eyes. Which, if you consider Newtons history, is a pretty big step to getting back to where he desires to be.
* * *.
POWER RANKINGS.
Its camp! Real camp now! With that, Im bringing you people what I see as the five most vital training-camp questions on the roadway to Tampa in February. Youre welcome …
1. Who is the Patriots quarterback? We undoubtedly dove into that. Im not in business of counting Bill Belichick teams out, however that is one magnificent huge question that theyll need to address. If Cams old Cam? Again, dont count Belichick out. And of course, the connected story here is how much Tom Brady has left, and what the two New England legends appear like apart. And speaking of 40-something QBs …
2. Just how much does Drew Brees have left? O.K., so heres another Im not in business of suspending. He turns 42 in January, and the last two seasons havent ended in the style he wouldve liked. Yes, this is about what Brees is bringing to the table now. More so, its about where hell be come January. Its an important question, in my mind, due to the fact that the roster around him is favorably filled.
Where does the Ravens offense go next? Weve seen groups in the past burst on to the scene employing college principles– the Broncos did in 2011, and Washington and the Niners did shortly thereafter. What we have not seen as much (the Cam Newton Panthers would be the one exception) is a team thats made it sustainable.
4. Can the Niners defense replicate what it did last year? DeForest Buckner is gone, with novice Javon Kinlaw essentially taking his spot. Nick Bosa is a year older. Arik Armstead is back. Dee Ford and Kwon Alexander are healthy. The secondary is intact. The bar is high, obviously. But the talents there, and integrating that kind of group with an offense run by Kyle Shanahan puts the Niners in an excellent place.
Can Josh Allen take a huge action forward? Anyone whos been here the last few months understands Im huge on the Bills potential customers– and the 26-and-under talent base there is undeniable (Stefon Diggs, Dion Dawkins, Ed Oliver, Tremaine Edmunds, TreDavious White, etc).
* * *.
THE BIG QUESTION.
Should players leave school to get ready for the 2021 draft?
And the more Ive talked to individuals about it, the more Im convinced of this: The great bulk of guys who desire to opt-out are probably are best off staying on scholarship and staying with their colleagues through the fall. And I state that not since of what theyll gain by doing it.
” You have an entire lot of choices in front of you,” said a coach from a major-conference program. “Why cut your alternatives in half? What if you take the cash (from a representative), and get harmed? What if everyone moves the season to January, and other kids get to play an eight-game schedule, and now you dont have that alternative? Why lower the quantity of information you could have prior to making a choice like that?”.
Now, there is temptation for gamers. The idea of investing the next six months in Miami or Phoenix without other duty is a lot to skip for a 21-year-old, especially if theres a six-figure stipend connected to it. Theres likewise the concept that you might get ahead of other kids in the race to prepare day.
Opportunities are, youve got a top-shelf strength coach training you, and a world-class facility to work in, as good or much better than what you may discover out on the draft-prep market. Possibly the other man gets a jump on working on his start out of a track stance for the 40 in Indy.
In staying, youll get another term towards your degree (which isnt absolutely nothing), youll expose the option of going back to school in 2021 or playing in some sort of spring season, and youll be (most likely) executed rigorous testing focused on keeping you and your teammates safe. Youll likewise get more football work– the NCAA has actually approved practices for groups that wont play video games in the fall. You will not be accruing debt while youre at all this.
And as our coach alluded to, if you get hurt, would you rather have it take place on campus, with your eligibility intact, or off elsewhere, with whatever tethered to your draft stock?
In the beginning, I thought a great deal of guys would have a tough call on this, and some do. Its definitely reasonable why Micah Parsons or Greg Rousseau bailed– those men are proven freakish skills and first-round picks who arent going to get passed in the pecking order based upon whether a college season takes place or not. The truth is, a lot of men arent Micah Parsons or Greg Rousseau. The more I went into it, I determined that, if youre not a first-rounder (and this is leaving out kids who have individual reasons for leaving or feel risky in their football programs), this actually should not be that hard a call. Stay on school. Get better. Reassess in December. Pretty basic, rational strategy, if you ask me.
* * *.
WHAT NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT.
How the holdout guidelines might develop really controversial situations in the fall.
You may have read about Dalvin Cooks scenario– hes been held out of team drills early in camp as his camp and the Vikings work out a new contract. You also might have seen where DeAndre Hopkins early days as a Cardinal could be affected by the exact same sort of thing. And you must understand that in both cases, the new holdout rules have actually truly backed the players into a corner where their alternatives in making a run at a contract are very minimal.
The history on this really goes back to the 2011 CBA. Kam Chancellor was the first veteran player to truly press the envelope under those rules, and that was in the 6th year of that CBA.
More just recently, things changed. Aaron Donald utilized a holdout efficiently. Khalil Mack did too. So when the NFL and NFLPA went back to the bargaining table, the owners want to go even further with the holdout guidelines.
The result: Stricter reporting guidelines and much heavier fines. Before, a gamer had to report within the very first 30 days of camp to get the accrued year towards free firm. Now? A player has to report on time– suggesting Cook would be an RFA, rather than a UFA, if he held out even for a single day. And allowable fines increased from $40,000 to $50,000, and might just be waived for gamers on novice offers. That means all fines examined to Hopkins would be final.
On paper, all of that is great for groups. The issue is when its put into practice, it can cause acrimony, with men who do not seem like they have levers to pull to get their financial due.
Keep an eye on Cook, Hopkins, and other guys who might be in line for a brand-new contract (there are quite a few from the 2016 draft class), and how they all deal with the coming weeks. That d be understandable if theres a lot on their minds.
* * *.
THE FINAL WORD.
Im headed out to Giants practice now, with the Patriots and Jets in the books. Weve got Eagles, Ravens and then Florida on tap after that– so make sure to follow along on Twitter (@albertbreer) and Instagram (@albert_breer).
Great deals of things to come there, including camp observations from inside those buildings. And if theres anything you people are trying to find, dont be reluctant to hit me up and ask.
” I treat practice as if its game-like, I believe thats the only way you can get much better,” Newton said. Second, in between turns, Newton is getting extra tosses with Lewerke.
2) Newton appears to like it here, and that makes sense due to the fact that Newton does carry the one requirement for playing here– He loves football. If you know what Newtons gone through to get here, that makes sense. Which, if you think about Newtons history, is a pretty huge step to getting back to where he wants to be.
