When it comes to the Patriots and the quarterback position, who will be the Week 1 starter -- Cam Newton or Mac Jones?
Everyone seems to have a take on the situation, but appearing on The Greg Hill Show Wednesday, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk brought up one that hasn't been discussed yet.
Could the Patriots treat the quarterback position like other positions on the roster and go week-to-week? Could they use Newton for games against defenses that struggle against rushing quarterbacks and then use Jones against defenses that have issues defending the pass?
"I have kicked around the idea … Bill Belichick is the master of coming up with game-specific plans, what running back he’s going to use based on what the defense is, could he actually do that with the quarterbacks?," Florio said. "Could he say, this is a Cam week? And then the next week based on the defense it’s a Mac week? You want to have one quarterback to lead your team, but when you have two guys who have different styles and you’re [playing] different defenses, it is temping to say this game we have a better chance of winning with Cam Newton and next week we have a better chance to win with Mac Jones.”
Florio does believe Belichick and the organization like Newton, otherwise they would not have brought him back for a second season.
“I think everyone is kind of in wait-and-see mode. There’s different opinions on Cam Newton," he said. "I think the Patriots really like him. They wouldn’t have brought him back if they didn’t. And I know there’s some hesitation with Cam because of what happened last year, but he didn’t have the weapons last year. And I think the COVID situation effected him a lot more than we realize, especially on the brain fog issue.
"I remember he denied having brain fog, but when you look back at some of those games you just wonder what was going on? He’s got his second year now in the system. He knows it better. But, it’s a meritocracy and Bill Belichick is going to go with the guy that he thinks is going to help the team win. He says that all the time — the best interest of the team. He is not going to make decisions to justify the return of Cam Newton or justify the use of the 15th overall pick on Mac Jones. And we saw Cam get yanked from games a couple of times last year for Jarrett Stidham and Cam doesn’t complain about it."
Training camp begins July 28.