New England Patriots 2021 QB options: Go big or go home

3. New England Patriots re-sign Cam Newton and draft the next quarterback in the first round.

There are worse options. Cam Newton was really good for a lousy Patriots team. Really good.

And not only on the field. He was a leader and a captain. A great locker room guy. The whole ballgame.

And, contrary to his critics, he had a higher seasonal completion percentage than the Super Bowl-winning quarterback, thank you. Now, who was that? Right.

No problem with that. Newton got a bad rap by observers who didn’t pay sufficient attention to the situation around him.

The man can play. He scored 12 touchdowns himself. More than anyone else. After all, who else was there? Almost no one.

Anyone who denigrates Newton’s performance wasn’t paying attention. Forget the TD to INT ratio. Newton had no one to throw to.

And why was that?

Julian Edelman got injured. The Patriots’ only legitimate receiver got hurt. A massive blow. And even James White had a down year.

And prior in the offseason, the Patriots did little to bolster a terrible wide receiving corps even with Edelman. A poor performance, indeed. So Newton invented a receiver, Jakobi Meyers.

In addition, while the team invested two third-round picks on tight ends in the draft (yes, finally),  they whiffed on both and the two had a combined total of 3 catches between them all season. Three total and the running back corps was pedestrian. Decent but that’s all.

The offense in 2020 was a shadow of its former self. It needs a sizeable makeover in 2021. Out with the old, in with the new. (And the defense does, as well.)

Signing Newton to a short-term deal for 3 years makes sense, if … and only if … the Patriots go all-in the draft to get a top-flight young quarterback.

So those are three options for New England for getting the quarterback situation on course for 2021 and beyond. It’s unlikely this club will go with any of the above strategies. Makes too much sense.

More likely they’ll trade too much for a mid-range quarterback and then draft another lackluster quarterback in the third or so round presumably for the future. If that happens, settle in. It’s going to be a long decade of losing we’ll undergo.