New England Patriots: Rodney Harrison bullish on Cam Newton

Patriots Hall of Famer Rodney Harrison is bullish on bringing Cam Newton to the New England Patriots.

Patriots Hall of Famer, the great Rodney Harrison, has an opinion on a critical issue facing the New England Patriots this offseason, the quarterback situation. He thinks Cam Newton would have been a good addition. I wholeheartedly agree.

But before I get into that, I have to say a few words about this Patriots Hall of Famer. He’s one of my all-time favorite Patriots players. In the pantheon of Patriots stars whom I really appreciated over my long tenure as a Patriots fan, this guy is way high on the list. The guy was just immense.

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First, I loved his attitude. He was an unstoppable force. Come into his area and you paid the football price. He came to play, whether it was practice or a game. Be ready, because Rodney was there. He was a champion and it’s fitting that he achieved that status officially in New England, as a Patriot.

Now to Rodney’s comments.

"I thought that would have been a really, really ideal situation for him. He could have came in, competed. Could have helped the young guy (Jarrett Stidham,) and could have helped to push him. I thought it would have been a perfect situation. I’m just a little disappointed that the Patriots weren’t a little bit more aggressive just recruiting Cam.”"

So am I, disappointed that they weren’t more aggressive. I think Newton would have been a great addition. An obvious choice for New England. Now one the greatest Patriots and NFL players in history has weighed in with a similar viewpoint.

Newton is no ordinary NFL quarterback cast-off. He’s a former NFL MVP, folks. Right. That’s an award won by Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Patrick Mahomes. That’s pedigree right there.

Now it’s clear that his style of play as an RPO quarterback has taken a toll on his body. He’s a big man and ran the ball hard as part of his game. He paid the price.

But last season, was the first time in his career that he played fewer than 14 games. In my view, he was a great option on a one-year “prove-it” deal to help the Patriots bridge the loss of the best quarterback ever.

My view is that the Patriots should have found a way to make it work. Obviously, I have no insight into the financial requirements to allow that to happen and the salary and personnel adjustments that would be required.

But I will say this, where there’s a will there’s usually a way in the NFL to make things work under the salary cap, and Newton would have been worth the manipulations, extensions, etc. to make it happen. Again, he’s a former NFL MVP.

Meanwhile, the Patriots have hitched their sleigh to a second-year quarterback who has thrown a sum total of 4 passes in his entire NFL career. Four. Something is not adding up here.

Either the Patriots brain trust thinks they have another Tom Brady or maybe a Jimmy Garoppolo on their hands, or maybe they are tanking in the Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes? I have no idea. We are going to find out soon enough.

I’ve written before, that handing a job over to an untested quarterback with no competition is a bad idea. I still feel that way. If Jarrett Stidham is the Brady, I’d say let him beat out Newton for the job, not Brian Hoyer. Then, at least, I’d be convinced.

Yet, the Patriots personnel operation that I feel cost them a number of Super Bowl wins during the Brady-era, has decided to go with the untested 2nd-year quarterback.

All I will say is that I’d feel a whole lot better about the Patriots chances of making a playoff run in 2020 with a former NFL MVP at the helm of the offense than with an essentially untested 2nd-year quarterback.

Next. N’Keal Harry putting in the work. dark

I may be wrong, and I hope I am. But again, that’s why, as they say, they play the games. We’ll hopefully find that out soon enough.

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