We’ve seen the rest, now it’s time to take care of the best.
After watching both Brian Hoyer and Jarrett Stidham struggle to fill Cam Newton’s loafers in Kansas City, the Patriots should guarantee Cam Newton all of his 2020 bonus money today. Doing so is sure to earn some future loyalty from the only Superman in the QB room while the Kryptonite in his system washes through.
And make no mistake, Newton is financially vulnerable right now (relatively speaking) due to his Covid-19 diagnosis. Millions of dollars are slipping away as he sits in quarantine.
To refresh, Newton signed for a ridiculous bargain-basement base salary of $1.05 million dollars, or barely enough to pay for his haberdashery bill this season.
He once had a chance to earn up to $7.5 million in total earnings this season by hitting incentives, but those odds grow longer by the day. He needs to play in 90 percent of the team’s regular season snaps and get the Patriots to the playoffs to make $3.75 million extra dough, or 90 percent of snaps without playoffs to cash $2.25 million in bonus money.
In addition, every game-day roster he misses costs him $43,750 in bonuses. Another $1 million is tied up in playoff victories, and yet another $1 million in Pro Bowl and All-Pro recognition. Even if Newton is back in relative short order, a quarter of the season might have slipped away making all these awards unattainable.
Long story short, this once-promising Newton New England vacation has become a financial national lampoon quickly thanks to the coronavirus. Newton may be driving out of Foxboro in the Griswold family truckster with an empty wallet after buying four bald tires and a tow.
So pay that Cam his money. Stop asking him to sing for his supper, especially in a year where singing spreads droplets.
The Krafts have plenty of cap space and liquidity, so invest in future shares of Newton stock now. Prices aren’t rock bottom after the Chiefs game exposed the team’s backup options, but Cam’s personal chips are down and he’s sure to be looking for some Belichick support right now.
And Belichick was sure lavish in his praise of Newton last week before the virus hit. Shouldn’t Bill put those words into action? It was a truly stunning heaping of praise from The Hoodie last week toward his new No. 1.
“Cam does a great job of connecting with everybody,” Belichick said. “Whether it’s his teammates, his receivers, guys on defense, other people in the organization. Again, I think the captain voting — not that that’s the ultimate final determination of leadership — but I think the fact that he’s been here a pretty short amount of time and earned that type of respect and support from his teammates is pretty impressive. I think it’s across the board. It’s the offensive line. It’s the receivers. It’s all the offensive players and coaches, and it extends into other areas as well, like special teams and defense and other people in the organization. I think that we’ve all seen that. And it’s impressive. It’s impressive.”
Belichick continued: “He’s here a lot. He’s in the building and he’s visible. He’s in sight and he’s connecting with people as much as any player. He’s in the building more than any player on the team. He spends a lot of time talking and connecting and building relationships with those people. He has tremendous leadership. So, it’s very impressive.”
That’s four ‘impressives’ if you’re counting at home, or four more than Tom Brady was afforded from Belichick during the entire run of the Guerrero years. If Belichick quotes equal real life events, Belichick and Brady are now legally divorced while Belichick and Newton just ran off to Vegas to get hitched.
So where is the wedding ring, Bill?
For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, remember?
And while Belichick checks his couch cushions for the cash, maybe it’d be worth verbally backing up his QB this week, too, and squashing any and all rumors of misdeeds by Newton in getting infected. If indeed Newton went to a shopping mall and caught it there, absolve him of all blame. Stand by your man, Bill.
Then, the house hunting can begin; a long-term contract extension is on the table. And Newton will be much more likely to sign one for a hometown discount, just like Brady used to do to help out the organization.
In the meantime, Stidham will get a run to see how he can handle the load. If he plays well, Belichick can always trade him for future assets, or short-term weapons for a run with Newton. If Stidham struggles, he’ll get a few more years to grow as the primary backup.
A truly bizarre week for the Patriots and a worst-luck diagnosis for the team’s best offensive player may be a long-term blessing in disguise if Belichick takes action now. It’s time to show Cam the love, Patriots. And of course that means show him the money.
