In his own mind, he thinks of himself as Superman. We know he is not a super hero in a cape. Maybe perhaps one of those middle of the road villains who don’t scare you, like maybe once a upon a time ago. Can a villain go soft like a quarterback? Almost like a cookie. I would never consider Cam Newton as a good guy. For sure, now his signing with the Evil Empire gives him that villain status. The New England Patriots are going from Darth Brady to Darth Newton as he inks a one year deal. An incentive laden deal that can pay the former MVP of the league 7.5 million if he reaches all the clauses. With this move, it instantly improves the quarterback room with only journeyman Brian Hoyer and second year Jarrett Stidham on hand. Does bringing in Newton put the Patriots back on top of the AFC East?

Cam Newton remained on the open market for a long period of time this off season. There are two reasons. Injury and Newton’ character both come into play.  A Lisfranc fracture sidelined his 2019 season. With Covid 19 very strong at the beginning of free agency, Newton could not get to teams’ facilities and get looked at by other teams’ experts. That’s why you’ve seen every other quarterback get gobbled up and signed before Newton.  Including Newton’s former team signing of Teddy Bridgewater. The writing was on the wall when Panthers went in a total different direction, ending ties with Newton. They were the only team he has played for. I always have to bring up Cam Newton’s character as a quarterback, the most important position on the field. When things are going good for Newton it’s Show Time at the Apollo. When things go dark with tough questions, Super Newton is weakened like kryptonite and Superman. Newton wants to take his ball and go storming home. Plus, Newton has tendencies to behave irrationally, especially towards female reporters. My biggest gripe is Newton not jumping on the loose ball in the Superbowl with only minutes left in a close game. Newton said he did not want to get hurt in the biggest game of his life.

Looked like the Patriots, with Tom Brady bolting for Tampa Bay, were quietly going walking off into the sunset. They were expected to go in with an unexperienced unproven quarterback in Jarrett Stidham. Then in his third stint with the Patriots, Brian Hoyer was in the fold just in case things went sour. Bringing in Cam Newton could work for both camps. Patriots will not be in the basement of their division when the season is over. It will not be the first round easy bye with Newton this team did get better. Seems head coach Belichick always can plug veterans into his system, even players with character issues, and make it work. Plus this is a prove-it deal to Cam Newton in which he wants to showcase his talents and continue to be a starter in this league for years to come. Look what Teddy Bridgewater did in New Orleans. Bridgewater filled in for injured Drew Brees and won all his starts. Now he’s got a big deal in Carolina and is a starter once again. If this experiment implodes, the Patriots will not be out of very much money. They might have to deal with their first losing season in a very long time.

It will be interesting to see how Cam Newton does versus Carolina Panther 2.0. The Buffalo Bills have tons of X-Panther players and coaches, that Newton has played with as teammates. It will be interesting to see how Josh Daniels redefines the Patriot offense. He’ll likely tailor it around Newton after having Tom Brady all those years. Will the Patriots system prove that it’s that easy like changing a light bulb from Brady to Newton, even though it’s a dimmer bulb. Who will be more successful now, Tom Brady or Bill Belichick? Cam Newton to me is just a fantasy quarterback. Every other year he puts up great numbers in stats, but will lose more playoff games than win them. With the signing of Newton, it keeps the New England Patriots a very easy team to hate for multiple reasons. When the season starts, I hope to see plenty of egg on their Darth Evil Empire helmets. Be great to see the Patriot way abolished from the galaxy like the death star ridding of a planet. The weakness to the Death Star this go around may be a Cam Newton soft serve play.