New England Patriots: Cam Newton’s deal is genius
By Samuel Teets
Cam Newton’s deal with the New England Patriots is a stroke of genius.
After sitting in the free agent pool for months, Cam Newton reached a deal with the New England Patriots for the 2020 NFL season last week. The one-year, incentive-laden deal mazes out at $7.5 million, but the contract places almost no strain on New England’s cap space. Instead, the deal demonstrates another instance of Bill Belichick playing chess while the other 31 teams play checkers.
Newton’s new contract only pays out $1.05 million in base salary. Just $550,000, the league minimum for players with nine years of experience, of that amount is guaranteed. To put Newton’s deal in perspective, Brian Hoyer also earns $1.05 million in base salary this season. Newton only started two games last year. Hoyer hasn’t started at least two games since 2017.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Newton can earn $700,000 in per-game roster bonuses. Overall, the vast majority of Newton’s deal relies on the quarterback staying healthy, making the final roster, and winning the starting job. If Newton doesn’t perform at a starting level, the Patriots only pay him slightly more than a low-grade, journeyman backup. Newton’s low amount of guaranteed money also means a low cap hit if the team releases him.
The Boston Globe‘s Ben Volin reported that New England’s quarterback room, which currently consists of five players, only carries a salary cap hit of $4,244,027. That’s the lowest of any team in the NFL. However, Volin conveniently overlooks the $13.5 million in dead money Tom Brady’s previous contract still puts on New England’s books in 2020.
On a recent episode of The Pat McAfee Show, MMQB’s Andrew Brandt broke down Newton’s deal. Brandt claims that Newton’s incentives won’t count toward New England’s 2020 salary cap. Instead, the incentives get added in at the end of the season and could impact the team’s cap next year.
Minutes after the news broke that Newton and New England reached a deal, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the team’s punishments for filming the sidelines of a game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns in December. New England forfeited a third-round pick, but the team gets a compensatory third-round selection if Newton leaves in free agency next spring, erasing the significance of the forfeited selection.
Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots outsmart the NFL again.
Even accounting for Brady’s dead money, New England still has one of the most efficiently manufactured quarterback rooms in the NFL. According to Spotrac, Newton’s estimated $1.1375 million cap hit ranks 54th among quarterbacks.
Newton’s deal also compares incredibly well to plenty of other contracts that backup quarterbacks recently signed. This offseason, the Las Vegas Raiders made Marcus Mariota the highest-paid backup quarterback in the league. The team owes Mariota $7.5 million in base salary alone. In total, Mariota carried a $9.125 million cap hit in 2020, which ranks 20th among all quarterbacks.
On his best day as an NFL quarterback, Mariota isn’t close to playing at the same level as Newton, yet he’s making substantially more money. Nathan Peterman, who sits at third on Las Vegas’ quarterback depth chart, earns $2.133 in base salary this year. That’s more than double Newton’s base salary.
Las Vegas isn’t the only team paying backup quarterbacks more money than Newton. Plenty of other backups carry larger cap hits than the former MVP. For instance, Chicago’s Mitchell Trubisky carries a cap hit slightly over $9.3 million, but Nick Foles could steal his starting job before the season begins. Foles carries a cap hit over $5.3 million.
Three New York Giants quarterbacks (Daniel Jones, Colt McCoy, and Cooper Rush) all carry larger cap hits than Newton. So do Buffalo’s Matt Barkley, Denver’s Jeff Driskel, Houston’s A.J. McCarron, Kansas City’s Chad Henne and Tampa Bay’s Ryan Griffin.
The Patriots signed a 31-year-old former MVP and NFC Champion to a low-risk, high-reward one-year deal. In the process, New England paved a path to recuperate a third-round pick they recently forfeited and completely undercut the inflated backup quarterback market. Financially, Newton’s deal is a genius move by the Patriots.