Cam Newton will be released after the Panthers couldn’t find a trade for the former NFL MVP but which teams should sign the quarterback in free agency?
Even before the Carolina Panthers signed Teddy Bridgewater, it was clear that Cam Newton would be heading elsewhere for the 2020 season. The only question was how it would happen. Would the former NFL MVP be traded or would the Panthers only look to save the money and release him?
On Tuesday, we got our answer. ESPN’s Adam Schefter was the first to report that the Panthers would cut Newton, saving roughly $19 million while taking on just $2 million in dead cap in parting ways with the quarterback by doing so, at some point on Tuesday.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport also noted that the Panthers worked hard to find a trade for the quarterback, noting that they talked with the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Chargers, but were unable to find a taker. Thus, his release was the only way that Carolina could go from this point.
Panthers are expected to release QB Cam Newton today, sources tell ESPN.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 24, 2020
The #Panthers tried to send Cam Newton to the #Bears and #Chargers. They found no takers and at this point, no starting jobs available. Release was the only option. Carolina has just $2M in dead money with this release, but Cam is now free.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 24, 2020
With his release, however, Cam Newton is now a free agent, meaning that there should be a more lucrative market for his services. So which NFL teams should be interested in the former MVP signal-caller? These five would make sense as free agency landing spots, albeit in varying capacities.
5. Pittsburgh Steelers
Full disclosure, I find it highly unlikely that Cam Newton would end up on the Pittsburgh Steelers. You have to believe that, even coming off of his foot injury that limited him to just two games in the 2019 season, that Newton wants to start for some team. And the Steelers have Ben Roethlisberger coming back, meaning that’s not a real possibility in the Steel City. Moreover, the Steelers aren’t exactly flush with cap space.
Having said that, if the Steelers could work out a deal with Newton while also getting him to agree to be a backup, they could surely use his services.
In the 2019 season, Pittsburgh almost made the playoffs with Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges filling in for Big Ben. Even with health concerns of his own, it’s quite obvious that Newton would be a tremendous upgrade over either of those players.
Bringing in the former Panther would essentially ensure that the Steelers would be a playoff team. Even if Roethlisberger were to go down with another injury, Pittsburgh would have a quarterback ready to step in who has previously led a team to the Super Bowl. Talk about a change of fortune in regards to the backup quarterback spot.
4. Las Vegas Raiders
Can anyone predict what the Las Vegas Raiders’ long-term plans are at quarterback with any particular confidence? I didn’t think so. Though Derek Carr hasn’t gone anywhere just yet and even with bringing in Marcus Mariota this offseason, the lack of commitment from Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock, on the whole, makes you believe that, if the right situation presented itself, the team would make a big change.
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So the question now becomes if Cam Newton is the right type of situation for the Raiders to make that kind of move at quarterback. Though he’ll be 31 years old when the 2020 season kicks off and has plenty of health concerns at this point, the upside of Newton — a player who has been an MVP and took the Panthers to Super Bowl 50 — is far greater than anything either Carr or Mariota has shown in their respective careers.
Furthermore, when you look at an offensive mind such as Gruden, you have to believe that he’d love to have a piece as valuable as Newton to work with. If nothing else, the 2019 season proved that the head coach still has a ton to show the world as an offensive mind. And giving him a chess piece that can move in the ways Newton can across the proverbial board would be enticing for such a mind.
It might be a pipe dream for Raiders fans that want to move on from Carr but it’s also hard to rule it out as a possibility. And as the silver and black make the move to Las Vegas for the 2020 season and figure to address wide receiver heavily in the 2020 NFL Draft, adding Newton would be a splash they need to make.
3. Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins have been at the center of plenty of speculation regarding the quarterback position this offseason. Though the organization selected Dwayne Haskins in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft and saw him start half of the season as a rookie, a change at head coach with Ron Rivera taking over — as well as Bruce Allen being dismissed — has inspired some chatter.
One rumbling that has been heard by many is the possibility that the Redskins could follow the Cardinals’ path from last season and take another quarterback (likely Tua Tagovailoa) in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. However, this appears to be a smokescreen utilized to drum up a trade up from a team actually in need of a quarterback.
But while that may be the case, there could also be some truth to the fact that Rivera is not sold on Haskins as the quarterback of the future in Washington. And given his long tenure in Carolina, perhaps the new head coach would like to bring Cam Newton into the fold to guide this team along.
Based on the up-and-down rookie campaign that Haskins had with the Redskins in 2019, it feels safe to say a healthy Newton would be an upgrade for the offense. But the real question would be if Washington as an entire organization believes that the better long-term option in their rebuild is Newton rather than Haskins.
2. Los Angeles Chargers
With Philip Rivers and the Los Angeles Chargers parting ways, they have been aggressive in improving the roster as a whole in 2020 NFL free agency, adding players such as Chris Harris Jr., Bryan Bulaga, Linval Joseph and retaining Hunter Henry while trading for Trai Turner. However, the elephant in the room is what the Bolts are planning to do at quarterback for the upcoming season and beyond.
As of now, it seems that veteran Tyrod Taylor is going to be the starter. While Taylor has proven to be a risk-averse quarterback with mobility that won’t kill an offense, it’s hard to have faith in the overall upside of a team that’s starting him under center in this league. Of course, there’s also the chance that the Chargers take Tua Tagovailoa or Justin Herbert in the 2020 NFL Draft to sit behind or overtake Taylor.
But even if Los Angeles does draft a quarterback, why would they not be interested in trying to compete at a higher level in the 2020 NFL season, which is what signing Newton would allow them to do. The now-former Panther would give the offense a ton more upside with Austin Ekeler, Keenan Allen, Henry and Mike Williams in the fray.
Newton could be the perfect stopgap for the Chargers to bring in while they groom a young quarterback. He gives the team more upside than Taylor while also not demanding long-term commitment. Though the Bolts chose not to trade for him, perhaps signing him as a free agent is more their prerogative to upgrade from Taylor.
1. New England Patriots
Tom Brady is gone and the questions about what the New England Patriots are going to do at quarterback in the 2020 NFL season — and well beyond that — have been swirling mercilessly. Understandably so since Brady was a 20-year veteran with the Pats and is now in Tampa Bay after the Pats have parted ways with potential replacements Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett in recent years.
As of now, rising second-year player Jarrett Stidham and recently-signed veteran Brian Hoyer are the two best options at quarterback for the Patriots in 2020, which doesn’t inspire a great deal of confidence given the inexperience of one and lack of high-end performance from the other. Subsequently, Cam Newton hitting free agency could be a godsend for Bill Belichick and the Pats.
Though the Patriots have their issues to address on offense in regards to the weapons they have to work with at wide receiver and tight end, New England can’t be thinking about tanking or anything of the sort in their current state. They have a solid offensive line and arguably the best defense in the NFL. This team can’t squander that by starting Stidham or Hoyer.
If the Patriots are going to stay atop the AFC East after losing Brady, they need an answer at quarterback. While Newton’s injury history makes him a risky proposition, the juice is worth the squeeze in this instance given their alternatives. Put simply, Cam Newton is the best answer to the question of what New England can do in life after Tom Brady.