Releasing Cam Newton is One of the Most Shocking Moves in Belichick's Career Filled with Them

Maddie Meyer. Getty Images.

It seems like every year at some point, I find myself coming on here and saying, "The most shocking thing about Bill Belichick is that he still has the ability to shock us." NFL Cutdown Day is the most likely time of year to be saying it, though it's not limited to that. You'd just think that after 30 something years of him going completely outside the box and making moves no other GM ever would, we'd just learn to be ready for anything. 

In the '90s, he benched Bernie Kosar at a time when schools and banks were closed on his birthday. In 2001, he sat a healthy Drew Bledsoe when he was the highest paid player in NFL history, despite the fact Tom Brady's stats to that point were average at best. A couple of years later, he released Lawyer Milloy five days before the season. I could go on, but you get the point. And yet here we are, 18 years later, trying to process his latest move because not a man, woman or child among us could've ever seen this coming. 

Riddle me this: Has it ever happened before? The quarterback who started every preseason game, took first team reps at every single practice going all the way back to OTAs, and who was 100% healthy, not even making the roster? It's unheard of. Unthinkable, even. But then Bill Belichick didn't build and sustain an Empire of unprecedented duration by doing the things everyone else does. And he is utterly without fear. He will make his decisions and live with them, public opinion be damned. 

Since the Thursday night when Mac Jones fell into the Patriots collective lap with the 15th pick, the question I've been asked most is when I thought he was going to be named the starter. Friends. Strangers. Interviews. At Patriots practices. Red Sox games. Golf courses. In liquor stores. Bars. Um … doing my legendary charity work, selfless helping out those in need. It got to the point where it became short hand. "So what do you think?" didn't even need any context or names attached. We'd both just understand what the point of the question was. 

And without exception, I've said I wanted Jones as the starter since last season. Some time around the Patriots late season three game losing streak, when the playoffs became a fantasy, but landing the guy who was tearing up the SEC started to become a realistic proposition. In late March, I called Jones "the perfect Patriot" and predicted they'd take him:

The Perfect Patriot: Mac Jones

I have to admit I've had Jones on the brain for months. Every since the losses piled up in New England and it became clear a middle 1st round pick was becoming a reality. While Jones just kept coming up with huge performances against the NFL's minor league, showed poise, command of the Tide's offense, maturity and - dare I say this without those good, moral folks at the NCAA having one of their episodes - professionalism. He's shown all the traits the Patriots seem to prioritize. And a guy looking bad with his shirt off didn't scare them off in 2000, why should it now? 

Whom the Pats Will Take: Jones. I say this on March 24th. This presumes a veteran quarterback they love (hellooo, Jimmy GQ) doesn't shake loose. They can not only stand pat at No. 15 and still land him, they could conceivably drop back a few spots, add a pick, and still get him. …

 Mac Jones to New England. Book it.

And nothing I've seen at a dozen or so practices, three Fauxball games, and literally hundreds of highlights and practice reports dissuaded me from believing Jones was the better choice. 

But whenever anyone would ask, I've also said that, whatever Belichick decides to do, his one and and only criteria will be choosing the guy that gives him the best chance to beat the Dolphins in Week 1. Period. Hard stop. There will be no secondary consideration. It's not about "owing" something to somebody or team dynamics or interpersonal relationships. He will do … wait for it … "whatever is in the best interest of this football team." Make his decision, and then go home and sleep like a baby. A baby with eight Super Bowl rings. And that is what he's done here, like it or not. 

Make no mistake: Mac defeated Cam in The Palindrome War. And it's not because Newton failed. On the contrary, he's looked light years ahead of where he was last year. The rookie was simply better. As I wrote after one of the practices, the difference between the offense with Jones under center versus Newton is the difference between someone driving a standard transmission who does it every day and someone who's still getting used to it. With Jones, it's a smooth ride. Newton is still grinding the gears, downshifting too fast and occasionally running the RPMs up into the red before he gets it into 5th. (You kids ask your dads what I'm talking about. But it's a great metaphor.) You can say it's unfair to Cam. But the beautiful thing that makes sports so special is that it's one of the last institutions we have where "fair" is determined by performance. It's a meritocracy. And it doesn't matter that you won an MVP or your name is Tim Tebow. The better person for the job gets the job. 

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All that said, I just assumed that if I got my wish and Jones was named starter for Week 1, Newton would become the dependable, popular, veteran back up. It's not a stretch to assume he asked for his release because at this point he doesn't want to sit behind anyone, much less a rookie. And I can't help but wonder if his being sent to the NFL's Covid Time Out Chair last week factored into the decision. Jones took hundreds of practice throws while Cam was at home watching via FaceTime. And there was no reason to assume it wouldn't happen again, since he remains unvaccinated, the league is determined to make examples out of such players, and Ginger Brother is Watching You. I know this is not the superhero reference Newton would prefer, but ask yourself if Nick Fury would depend on Hulk if at any moment he could be turned back into Bruce Banner in the middle of saving the planet. It has to be part of the equation. 

Finally, coming out of the final preseason game Sunday night, with Newton playing with the starters and getting light duty, I concluded that he was entrenched as the starter. Based on a lifetime of watching it play out exactly like that on every team in the league. I should've known better. Especially after Belichick gave this answer yesterday:

Q: I wanted to ask you about the decision at quarterback, which you said last night you still have a decision to make. I saw a stat this morning that Mac Jones had 107 snaps in the three preseason games and Cam Newton only got 38. Do you think Cam got enough opportunities in these preseason games to kind of show the full scope of what he can do?

 BB: Again, that's true in a lot of situations. Players that have played a long time got fewer snaps, and players that haven't played as much, rookie players, younger players, got more snaps. You balance off the game snaps with the practice snaps. It's a big composite. It's not any one thing, one play, one day. We have a volume of work to look at, and that's what we're going to do, and that's what we want to do. 

Turns out, it was a big composite they were going with. A volume of work to look at. The same volume of work we all saw. And we were not wrong to believe Jones was outperforming Newton. Just wrong to think that Jones playing with the backups meant something. Because it obviously didn't.

More than anything, we were wrong to think the Patriots would do what any other team would. This Dynasty isn't built like any other. And now it's officially entered it's Phase 2. That game against Tampa Bay on October 3rd just got that much more historic.