Cam Newton's contract with Patriots is shockingly thin on guaranteed money
When Richard Sherman called Cam Newton’s contract with the New England Patriots “ridiculous,” we knew only the broad sketches of it.
Now we know the granular details. And Sherman appears to be even more right.
According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, Newton — the 2015 NFL MVP — is guaranteed less than a million bucks this coming season.
In the 1-year deal for #Patriots QB Cam Newton, the team guaranteed him just $550K — on a $1.05M total base. The definition of low-risk. The reward comes in $700k in per-game rosters bonuses and another $5.75M in incentives. The max is $7.5M in all.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 2, 2020
Even taking into consideration Newton’s injuries the past two seasons, this feels like absurd value for the Patriots at the sport’s most important position.
This tweet offers some more stunning perspective:
Andy Dalton, 1-year $3.0M guaranteed
Jameis Winston, 1-year $1.1M guaranteed
Cam Newton, 1-year $0.6M guaranteed https://t.co/U03ksuj2nD— Scott Barrett (@ScottBarrettDFB) July 2, 2020
The Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints are not counting on Andy Dalton and Jameis Winston, respectively, to start. Newton, however, could be Tom Brady’s Week 1 replacement in New England. Las Vegas seems to believe that Newton’s arrival could have a notable impact on the Patriots’ chances this season.
And here’s one more total money mind-bender: Brady, who signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this offseason, will hit the Patriots for $13.5 million this season. That’s nearly 12 times as much as Newton, at an estimated $1.137 million.
Whew. That’s roughly the same as Bobby Bonilla will cost the New York Mets this year. Apples and oranges, of course, but still ...
Cam needs to be just semi-decent to be worth the money
Prior to injuring his shoulder in 2018, Newton completed a career-best 67.9 percent of his passes and was on the MVP spectrum around midseason. Last year’s foot injury also must be considered — after all, Newton’s running ability is a huge element of why he has been one of the best two-way quarterbacks of this generation.
If he’s up and running, it’s hard to imagine how this signing isn’t absurd valuable for Bill Belichick’s team. Kind of makes you wonder why a team such as the Chicago Bears didn’t sniff harder around Newton.
And if he’s successful in 2020, it will be yet another bargain-basement value for a franchise that has been doing this sort of thing brilliantly for two decades. This time it just happens to be for a quarterback, which they hadn’t really needed before now.
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