Musket Fire's Sara Marshall believes Auburn football legend Cam Newton may be onto something in his repeated defenses of struggling New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones, who Newton blamed NE on for his lack of success at the NFL level.
"Part of (Jones's failures in New England) may be due to hesitancy to blame Belichick for failing a player after the illustrious career he has had, which makes sense to a degree," Marshall prefaced before saying, "However, part of the job is appropriately building up a player, honing their talents as best as possible, and surrounding them with talent that helps them be successful on the field.
"That doesn't seem to be what has happened with Jones, and maybe Robert Kraft deserves a bit more blame for watching and allowing it to transpire this way, precisely as Newton said."
Newton went on his YouTube show to defend Jones and shift the blame on his underwhelming pro career on the Patriots coaching staff; which has failed to field a competitive product for just about the entirety of the post-Tom Brady era in New England.
Should NFL front offices be held more accountable for the success/failure of their QBs?@CameronNewton chimed in on last week's episode pic.twitter.com/tA4PHSPmtK
— 4thand1show (@4thand1show) December 26, 2023
“When guys really start feeling themselves and say, ‘I belong here,’ that’s where they get better,” Newton said on the “4th and 1” show (h/t NESN). “For every quarterback that we’ve felt or seen come into their own right before our eyes, there’s other quarterbacks that we’ve seen shrink because of bad development, bad coaching, bad management. They never feel like they belong.”
Auburn football legend Cam Newton has only been supportive of Mac Jones
Despite coming from Iron Bowl rival schools, Newton has not had any bad blood for Jones, who he referred to as a "baller" back in October.
“Man, Mac’s a baller, bro. And I saw this hands-on,” Newton said (h/t Boston.com). “Ultimate worker, ultimate competitor. He got that Alabama in him, so it’s like you can’t crack the code sometimes. You be like, ‘Loosen up, bro. We just trying to be teammates.’ But it is what it is. Now, playing in Boston is a different beast, bro. And I was playing there in the COVID year, so I didn’t even see a crowd most of the time I was there.”
Newton's support of Jones may fall on deaf ears if the Patriots move on from the ex-Crimson Tide signal-caller. With rumors of players quitting on Jones being prevalent, it's fair to wonder if another franchise will consider him to lead their offense moving forward.