Patriots could see a very different Cam Newton in 2021

It’s already been a different offseason for every team in the NFL and there’s a veteran quarterback for the New England Patriots taking advantage of it.

Cam Newton underwent shoulder surgery following the 2018 NFL season. Later that year, he injured his foot in a preseason game at New England after two weeks in 2019, the Carolina Panthers shut him down for the remainder of the year. He was released by the franchise and went looking for work. Then came the pandemic and the world was relying on Zoom calls instead of hopping on a plane.

Newton then signed a one-year contract with the New England Patriots in late June of 2020 (via Spotrac). That’s awful late in the game to prepare for a football season. The veteran signal-caller played effective football in his first three outings, went down with COVID-19 and, when he returned, he simply wasn’t the same and a shell of the performer who wowed opposing defenses more times than not.

Newton’s final numbers for 2020 hardly inspire confidence. He played in 15 games and threw more interceptions (10) than touchdown passes (8). He did finish second on the team with 592 yards rushing and ran for a dozen scores. He was sacked 31 times and but lost just one of his six fumbles.

The combination of rustiness and a lack of familiarity with a system was evident. There was also an absence of offensive firepower when it came to the other skill positions. But now he’s back via another one-year contract.

"“He’s worked really hard and he worked hard all year last year,” explained offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels (via Mark Daniels of the Providence Journal). “He was certainly in a point when he got here that was a unique situation, having really no experience and exposure to our system prior to training camp starting. I honestly can’t remember another time in my career where we’ve had a player that has done that…So it was a unique scenario. He worked his butt off last year to do it and then he came back certainly this year at a much different position.”"

This offseason, Bill Belichick and the team spent some money and added wide receivers Kendrick Bourne and Nelson Agholor and tight ends Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry. Combine that with a little more schooling and there’s an air of optimism in Foxborough.

"“He has a different grasp of the offense, a different understanding of the terminology,” added McDaniels. “And now we’re working on refining the precision, the details, and I always talk to the quarterbacks about trying to master the operation and the things we need them to do. And there’s always work to be done in that area. I don’t care what quarterback you’re talking about, there’s always work to be done.”"

A year ago, the Patriots posted their first losing campaign since 2000. The offense finished 27th in the league in total yards per game and 30th in passing. Belichick’s defense needs to step it up this season as well. But as far as Newton goes (ESPN’s Mike Reiss has some recent news), there appears to be a comfort level with the system that simply wasn’t there a season ago.