Finally, something big has happened for sports media.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsFormer NFL MVP Cam Newton has reached agreement on a one-year, incentive-laden deal with the New England Patriots, league sources tell @mortreport and me.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 28, 2020
Newton now will step into the mix to try to help replace former Patriots’ QB Tom Brady.
The New England Patriots are signing former Carolina Panthers quarterback and NFL MVP, Cam Newton, to a one-year minimum deal, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Newton was released by the Panthers earlier this year after missing almost the entire 2019 season rehabbing from a foot injury. The deal is reportedly incentive loaded and is worth up to $7.5M.
The Patriots are, for the first time since 1995, uncertain at the quarterback position. The team lost their superstar veteran, Tom Brady, to free agency this offseason and were looking for his replacement. After not drafting a quarterback in the 2020 NFL Draft, much to analysts and fans surprise, the assumption was that the team planned to move forward with the sophomore back-up Jarrett Stidham or veteran journeyman Brian Hoyer.
The Patriots depth chart now has Newton, Stidham, Hoyer, rookie Brian Lewerke, and rookie J’Mar Smith at the position.
For people that may be wondering why Newton wasn’t signed earlier in the year, the Patriots were probably waiting for the offseason deadline for team-evaluation with the compensatory picks. The league evaluates what rosters lost the most talent during the free-agent period and assigns teams “compensatory picks” to make up for the losses. The deadline for roster evaluation was on June 1st this season. Any free agent signings that happen after that date do not impact the evaluation.
In other news, the Patriots were just penalized by the NFL today for filming coaches sideline signals during the Bengals/Browns game last December. They have been fined $1.1M, lost their 2021 third-round pick, and the Patriots film crew cannot shoot any other games in the 2020 NFL season, per Adam Schefter.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsNFL has handed down these penalties to the Patriots for their television crew filming the Bengals-Browns game in December, sources tell @MikeReiss:
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 29, 2020
🏈$1.1 million in club fines.
🏈Loss of 2021 third-round pick.
🏈Patriots’ TV crews not allowed to shoot games during 2020 season.
You can’t say that the Newton signing wasn’t timed that way on purpose. Them’s the rules.
Oh, Adam, I hate to break it to you but the Patriots uniforms don’t look like that anymore.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsWhat it looks like….thoughts? pic.twitter.com/IirBljCR91
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 29, 2020
More thoughts upcoming on the John Vogel Show tomorrow.