Auburn football: Cam Newton-New England return remains a possibility

Although former Auburn football quarterback Cam Newton was not what New England was hoping for in the 2020 season, it seems Bill Belichick is extremely happy with Newton anyway.

With the Patriots’ loss of Tom Brady to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cam Newton was expected to lead New England to greatness. The QB looked pretty good at the beginning of the season, but his season regressed after he became sick with COVID-19.

Because Newton’s deal with NE was for one year only, it was widely expected that he would be playing for a different team come 2021, but today Boston.com reported that Bill Belichick is impressed with Newton’s effort in the offseason:

The article also reported that Newton said he would gladly return to the Patriots for another season although he’s been linked with the Washington Football Team.

However, Cam’s offseason efforts don’t guarantee that he’ll stay in New England. After all, the Patriots are expected to draft a quarterback in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft–possibly Mac Jones–and Coach Belichick does have some concerns about Newton, per Boston.com:

"Volin did add in his report that Belichick is concerned with Newton’s arm strength. Newton’s had multiple surgeries on his throwing shoulder since 2017, and by the end of this past season, his arm was unreliable. Newton threw for less than 100 yards in three of the season’s final six games and threw for just 119 yards in another game during that stretch."

Perhaps Newton can still be brought back, though, to push the incoming college QB in camp…and maybe even win the job himself.

Newton credited his poor season to not being able to fully recover from the Coronavirus, where he missed weeks four and five of the season. If Belichick truly does hold such a high opinion of Cam Newton, and the feeling is mutual, it’s possible a second chance with the Patriots could be on the Auburn football alum’s horizon.