Tuesday saw each of the 32 NFL cutting a significant amount of players so that they could reach the 53-man limit. While a lot of the cuts were players that you’d suspect, the New England Patriots shocked a lot of people when they released veteran quarterback Cam Newton.
The 2015 NFL MVP was coming off his worst campaign to date where he recorded 2,657 passing yards for eight touchdowns to 10 interceptions in 15 games. Even though his performance wasn’t that great, Newton was still expected to be the Patriots No. 1 QB in the 2021 NFL season. Unfortunately for him, that changed with the emergence of rookie gunslinger Mac Jones during training camp and the preseason. Now, the 11-year veteran has to look elsewhere for a job.
Well, Bovada has released odds predicting just where Cam Newton will end up and it’s the Dallas Cowboys at +400 odds. The team released quarterbacks Garrett Gilbert and Ben DiNucci on Tuesday, leaving Cooper Rush as Dallas’ backup. The issue here is that Rush has been on the field for a grand total of 26 offensive snaps since joining the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2017.
The fact is that Dak Prescott only started working at 100% recently. If he were to suffer another season-ending injury, the Cowboys would be left with Rush as their starter and there’s no guarantee how that’ll turn out. At least Newton is a proven commodity despite his shortcomings last year. He’s a three-time Pro-Bowler for a reason and he’d have much better pass-catching options in Dallas than he did in New England. The rumor is that the Cowboys are really considering Newton as Prescott’s backup, so only time will tell if that materializes.
Cam Newton Odds: Where Will He Play Next?
Odds via Bovada as of Wednesday, September 1
- Dallas Cowboys (+400)
- Indianapolis Colts (+500)
- Washington Football Team (+600)
- Baltimore Ravens (+600)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (+700)
- Houston Texans (+900)
New York Jets (+1000) - Arizona Cardinals (+1100)
- Seattle Seahawks (+1200)
- Atlanta Falcons (+1300)
Cam Newton Colts Odds
At +400 odds, the Indianapolis Colts are the second-likeliest team to land Cam Newton. The Colts made a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this year to acquire Carson Wentz to be their quarterback going forward, however, everything has gone far from perfect. A nagging foot injury held Wentz out of a lot of Indianapolis’ training camp and now he was placed on the COVID-19 injured list on Monday due to him being a close contact to a staff member who tested positive.
There’s no telling how Wentz will fair over a 17-game season following his recent especially, especially with him only playing a full campaign once in the last four seasons. Jacob Eason is the Colts backup QB and while he looked impressive in the preseason, he doesn’t have any regular season experience. Bringing in a veteran like Newton would add some extra insurance to the position. Plus, it would give Eason another year to develop rather than thrusting him into a full-time job that he may not be ready for.
Washington Football Team Ruled Out
Another interesting landing spot for Cam Newton would be the Washington Football Team (+600). Seventeen-year NFL veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick is Washington’s starter ahead of the season, however, he’s also turning 39 years old in November. While he looked decent with the Miami Dolphins last year and he’ll be playing behind a great offensive line, regression could hit him at any moment.
Unfortunately for Newton, Washington coach Ron Rivera already came out after Tuesday’s cuts and said that the team isn’t interested in the veteran. As it stands, two of Newton’s former Carolina teammates — Taylor Heinicke and Kyle Allen — are Fitzpatrick’s backups. The duo has a total of 18 combined NFL starts between them, with a majority coming when Allen assumed the Panthers starting job when Newton was injured in the 2019 NFL season. Nevertheless, both Allen and Heinicke had impressive training camps and preseasons, so it’s unsurprising that Rivera wants to ride with both of them on the depth chart going forward.
