It was announced Tuesday that the New England Patriots would not be retaining the services of former NFL MVP Cam Newton. Wednesday morning, coach Bill Belichick once again took to the media to re-iterate that Cam’s vaccination status was not part of the decision making process that went into the call to cut him.
Much has been made about players taking public stances against vaccinations as the regular season drew near. According to the NFL, players who are unvaccinated have been testing 7 times higher for COVID than those who are fully vaxxed.
While Cam’s stance on vaccination may not have had a direct impact on the Pats’ decision to release him, indirectly, many could argue, it was the final nail in the coffin. Rookie QB Mac Jones was already having a strong pre-season. Whispers around New England changed from “if” Jones would start in 2021 to “when” he would start in recent weeks.
Which led to last week’s “misunderstanding” between Newton and the Patriots whereby Newton was sidelined for 5 days due to COVID protocols. During those 5 days, Jones seized the job and ran with it. The former Alabama QB would then cap it off with a scintillating performance against the Giants on Aug 29th where he would put up a 10/14 for 156yds and 1 TD statline to establish himself as New England’s best option at quarterback.
Other teams, such as the Jacksonville Jaguars, announced that they did take vaccination status into account when making final roster cuts this week. While the Patriots haven’t gone so far as to say that, one does wonder whether Jones would have been given the keys to the kingdom if Newton could’ve stayed on the field.
The Patriots host the Miami Dolphins on Sunday September 12th in Foxborough.