1. Just a few months ago, the Patriots were viewed as a team fighting for a playoff spot with second-year player Jarrett Stidham at quarterback, but now with Cam Newton in the mix, what are they? Prior to Newton's arrival, most sportsbooks set the Patriots over/under for wins at 8.5 and then they went up to nine with the former NFL MVP now on the team. Is Newton really worth only half a win? We disagree. Assuming Newton is healthy and playing all 16 games, the Patriots could every well win 11 or 12 games. Prior to his arrival the Patriots were probably the third or fourth-best team in the AFC, but now it feels they are at the top of the second tier right behind the Chiefs and Ravens. Are they favorites to win the AFC? Absolutely not. But, they aren't just a team fighting for a playoff spot anymore. They are a team with the potential to make a deep run in the postseason.
2. One thing for sure Newton has brought to New England is excitement. While there was some intrigue in seeing Stidham and the Patriots offense without Tom Brady, Newton coming to the team has brought legitimate excitement for training camp and then the regular season. It's a shame training camp will look so different this year because it would have been incredibly fun and interesting to follow Newton's daily progress, who was getting reps with who, etc. It's always exciting to follow new, great players during training camp, but when it's a quarterback it's on a different level.
3. It really didn't come as much of a surprise this week when the Patriots and Joe Thuney did not come to an agreement on a long-term extension as the deadline for franchised players came and went. The Patriots can afford the $14.8 million cap hit with the newly created cap space and Thuney makes close to $15 million this year and then hits the open market again next offseason with the chance to cash in on big long-term deal. Win-win for both sides.
4. While Newton received a lot of attention for his private workouts with Patriots pass catchers, Stidham was doing the same with a bigger group of players in the Foxborough area this week. The Patriots want the summer to be as much of an open competition as possible because it will make both players better, but if Newton is healthy it's hard to imagine him not getting the job.
5. One thing to come from the Patriots' announcement that if fans are allowed at Gillette Stadium this year it will be at 20 percent capacity is the prices on the secondary market have taken off. According to TicketIQ, inventory has dropped over 97 percent and the average ticket price has risen $424 to $591.
6. NFL teams received a memo over the weekend confirming dates for players to report for training camp. Rookies are set to report July 21, quarterbacks and injured players July 23 and all other players July 28. The first few days and weeks of training camp will look a lot different with a lot of conditioning work and not a lot of actual football because of all that was missed in the spring. From a media perspective for the Patriots, all interviews will be conducted virtually and while reporters will be present at training camp, it remains unclear how many.
7. As these dates get closer, it will not be surprise to hear of a player or two deciding to opt out on playing this season in the coming week. Some of the financials of this are still being decided between the NFL/NFLPA, but like other sports, there's no question there will be some NFL players who do not play this coming season.
