Patriots get it right making Mac Jones starter, cut Cam Newton

The New England Patriots made their quarterback decision definitively as the franchise cut veteran Cam Newton to roll with rookie Mac Jones as the starter.

One day after it seemed as if we wouldn’t know who the New England Patriots starting quarterback would be until Week 1 of the regular season, the franchise answered that question definitively. Rookie Mac Jones will be under center against the Dolphins to open the year — and Cam Newton won’t be on the roster.

As the Patriots and the other 31 teams in the NFL cut down their rosters to 53 players on Tuesday, Newton was among the players waived by New England, as first reported by Jim McBride of The Boston Globe.

Newton started the majority of last season for the Patriots and, before Jones was selected No. 15 overall in this year’s draft, the franchise brought him back on a one-year deal. But throughout training camp, rave reviews continued to pour out for Jones and he backed it up with strong preseason play.

Moreover, Newton was forced to the sidelines late in camp during joint practices with the Giants due to a COVID testing mishap, thus giving the rookie more snaps with the first-team offense. Who knows how much that played into this decision but, nonetheless, Newton is out and Mac Jones officially takes over the Patriots.

Mac Jones is the future of the New England Patriots and earned the opportunity for the future to start now.

Everything Mac Jones showed in camp and in the preseason indicated that he was worthy of starting for this team. He was the highest-graded rookie quarterback in the preseason according to PFF and consistently looked in control of the offense and was comfortable in an NFL environment.

This isn’t necessarily to say that he blew Cam Newton out of the water. Newton, outside of the preseason finale when he had barely practiced all week, was solid and looked better overall than he did last year with New England. That, however, doesn’t mean the Patriots made the wrong call.

In fact, New England made the right and obvious choice by naming Mac Jones the starter.

It was clear throughout the preseason and training camp that Jones and Newton were, at minimum, neck-and-neck in terms of performance. But if that’s the case, then the Pats’ best course of action was always to roll with the rookie. Yes, that might mean some more growing pains in the 2021 season but the long-term outlook is much more favorable.

If a rookie is on the same level (or better) than a veteran at quarterback, the rookie deserves to get the nod. Not handing the keys to the offense over to Jones would’ve been the Patriots being mired in the antiquated notion that young signal-callers must wait. Instead, it’s better to get that young player experience right away and start turning to a new chapter for the franchise.

Newton will surely be picked up somewhere around the league on waivers and, to be sure, there should be some questions for New England about why they didn’t keep him as a backup. But in terms of who is the QB1, the Patriots made the right call with Mac Jones.