The NFL has a number of interesting quarterback battles between star rookies and veterans. Last night, we got a look at the New England Patriots‘ showdown between Cam Newton and Mac Jones.
Cam Newton didn’t get a ton of work. He was 4-for-7 for 49 yards, before giving way to his young counterpart. Jones was accurate, completing 13-of-19 throws for 87 yards. His sub-5 yards per attempt won’t blow anyone away, but for a first NFL game, it was a solid outing.
Newton has been incredibly supporting of Jones publicly, even as his job is on the line. The former MVP is the likely Week 1 starter, and has Bill Belichick’s trust after a year in the Patriots’ system, but ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler says that Jones is on his heels.
“Cam Newton is the favorite, but he’s got work to do here,” Fowler said on today’s edition of Get Up! “I keep hearing that Bill Belichick trusts Cam Newton, that he’s in position to start Week 1, but he’s got to make some progress here because Mac Jones is coming. He showed accuracy and decision-making all of training camp, and he showed it again last night.”
“Mac Jones was as advertised!”@ESPNBooger was impressed with the Patriots’ rookie QB 👀 pic.twitter.com/eglOVae8Hn
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) August 13, 2021
Newton’s numbers wound up being pretty disappointing last year, but he certainly wasn’t handed the easiest situation. He played through injury, was used as a battering ram in the run game, and had very few good weapons to throw to.
This offseason, Pats signed a pair of wide receivers—Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne—as well as arguably the two top right ends available in Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith. It may not be the best receiving corps in the NFL, but it should be a big upgrade from 2020.
Fowler expects more from Newton this fall, especially with the added motivation and pressure from Mac Jones’ presence. Via 247:
“They expect Cam Newton to be healthier, to be better than last year. He’s got more weapons at his disposal. But he’s going to have to fend off Jones. And if Jones puts together a couple more performances in the preseason, it’s not all or nothing where Belichick’s going to make a strong decision here in the next week or two — they’re going to let this play out a little bit — but Newton has to show some progress here.”
Belichick had a very Belichickian takeaway from Jones’ performance, saying he did “Some good things, some things we can improve on. That’s true for everybody.”
We’ll see if Newton gets more work in the second preseason game, or if Jones will continue to get most of the opportunities to prove that he’s ready to start in year one. The Patriots face the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday, Aug. 19.
The post NFL Insider Updates New England Patriots QB Battle After Preseason Game 1 appeared first on The Spun.
Leave a Reply