NFL News

[jaadam4]

Cam is an ancient 33

[ghandi]

Cam is an ancient 33

I wonder if some of the issues with signing Lamar Jackson are fears that he may turn into Cam Newton or RG3 in the not too distant future? QBs that rely on running the ball alot dont seem to last as long.

[chemiclord]

I'm sure that's A factor.

But I'd wager the major reason is that 32 owners are trying to make it clear that a Watson style contract is never happening again.

[Futureshock]

I wonder if some of the issues with signing Lamar Jackson are fears that he may turn into Cam Newton or RG3 in the not too distant future? QBs that rely on running the ball alot dont seem to last as long.

A half a billion dollars GUARANTEED FULLY is the hold up there. His agent isn't too bright.

[Futureshock]

I'm sure that's A factor.

But I'd wager the major reason is that 32 owners are trying to make it clear that a Watson style contract is never happening again.

I'm sure they DGAF about the QBs style or even the amount. But a half a billion fully guaranteed would make anyone cringe a little.

But, they couldn't just let it be and may get hit with collusion. No one else was going to give him that. They didn't need to collude.

[chemiclord]

I could see Snyder deciding to set his money on fire just to piss off the other owners as they pushed him out. But yeah, it would have to be a fairly bizarre scenario.

Certainly nothing worth colluding over.

[Futureshock]

Naw, Florio and the player's union keep intimating that there's collusion to not sign him.

[whatever_gong82]

Cam Newton will throw at Auburn’s Pro Day on Tuesday

Posted by Charean Williams on March 20, 2023, 8:36 PM EDT

Getty Images

Cam Newton hasn’t lost his swag, but what he wants is another chance.

The free agent quarterback confirmed in a social media post that he will throw during Auburn’s Pro Day on Tuesday.

“Tell me how these randoms keep getting jobs,” Newton says during the video before later adding, “Ain’t 32 mother [expletive] better than me. You dig?”

Newton, 33, has not played since 2021 during a second stint with the Panthers.

He last won a game in 2020, last passed for 3,000 yards in 2018, last started every game in a season in 2017, last started a playoff game in 2017 and last made the Pro Bowl in 2015. Newton also was league MVP in 2015 when he led the Panthers to a 15-1 record and an appearance in the Super Bowl.

He spent 10 seasons with Carolina and one with New England.

Man, has Cam Newton fallen off the face of the earth. Just 7 short years ago, his team was playing in the Super Bowl, now he can't seem to find a roster spot anywhere.

That's why anybody wanting Detroit to trade 2 first round picks to Baltimore for Lamar Jackson and then to sign him to a big contract guaranteed need to be put in an insane asylum.

[chemiclord]

Naw, Florio and the player's union keep intimating that there's collusion to not sign him.

I don't doubt THAT, just surprised that some owners would feel the need to collude at all. That Watson deal got them all skurred-like.

[froot loops]

It's not a hot take to look for signs of collusion, it would a be a dereliction of duty not to. They literally colluded to blackball Kaepernick a few years back.

[CGVT]

Cam is an ancient 33

If the NFL had protected Cam the same as they protected Rodgers, Cam would still be a factor in the league.

[Topweasel]

If the NFL had protected Cam the same as they protected Rodgers, Cam would still be a factor in the league.

Yeah I mean Cam was a big runner. But the way he ran rarely left him getting big hits after the LoS. They (Carolina and the refs) let him get murdered. CAR could have invested better in the Oline. But the refs absolutely treated Cam differently than a Brady. Part of that might have been on how hard he was to take down. Big Ben experienced a lot of no calls as well, also dropped in production as he got into his 30's. Well he played crappier for longer, but still basically looked tapped out at 34ish without any major injuries.

[chemiclord]

I think you had a lot of refs that threw flags based on how a hit looked rather than what said hit actually was. A 250-lb pass rusher running over Tom Brady looked a lot different than running over Rothlisberger or Newton.

I also think it's part of the reason why they changed how roughing the passer was called, why even love taps on the helmets draw flags nowadays; it's a fairly classic NFL over-correction rather than address their officials have fairly obvious biases in what they call, when they call it, and who they call it on. Making a whole bunch of dumb "zero-tolerance" penalties is easier (and cheaper) than correctly training these guys.

[whatever_gong82]

From yesterday's Athletic. Broken into 2 parts.


Why is Bill Belichick coaching the Patriots in his 70s? He wants the all-time wins record


By Chad Graff

Mar 21, 2023

After the Patriots had loaded up multiple airport-bound buses following a road win over the Cleveland Browns in October, Bill Belichick had the team’s caravan stop at a statue of Jim Brown that sits outside FirstEnergy Stadium. He had his players disembark, check out the statue, snap some photos and take a minute to think about Brown and what he meant to the NFL.


Teams in professional sports almost never make pitstops on their exits from away games. The faster they can get home the better. But Belichick wanted to make sure his players didn’t leave Cleveland without some comprehension of Brown’s legacy. Belichick called him “the greatest player that ever played.”



Belichick is a football lifer who has spent 48 years in the NFL. He knows the league’s history and appreciates it as much as anyone. He watches games from the 1970s and ’80s during downtime and shows highlights from those days to current players.



And in recent years, the 70-year-old has started to think about his own place in NFL history. He has already accomplished just about everything one can in this game: six Super Bowls as a head coach, plus two more as an assistant.

So why, with his 71st birthday a few weeks away and a 25-25 record over the last three seasons, does Belichick still want to do it? Why does he continue with this exacting, pressure-packed job even though he is already considered by most to be the NFL’s greatest coach ever?



The most important things to him are history and legacy. And there’s one more record he doesn’t hold.



Interviews about Belichick with three people who used to work for him, all of whom were granted anonymity so that they could speak freely, paint a portrait of a man still highly motivated to succeed as he prepares for his 24th season at the Patriots’ helm. There’s still a desire to prove he can win without Tom Brady. There’s a passion for teaching and coaching that hasn’t subsided. There’s the goal of a seventh Super Bowl win, which would give New England more than any other franchise.




But among the reasons for continuing to coach, his former employees said, perhaps most significant is that Belichick wants to become the NFL’s all-time leader in career wins by a head coach. Belichick’s 329 all-time wins are 19 shy of surpassing Don Shula’s NFL record of 347, a mark that includes playoff victories.


It seems like a foregone conclusion that Belichick will get to the record. But how long will it take? What will happen if the team’s recent downturn — after such lofty success — continues and the quest becomes a several-year venture? Do the goodwill he has built with ownership and the team’s die-hard fan base mean Belichick has an unlimited runway to chase the record even if losing becomes the norm?




After Belichick passed George Halas in October to move into second place in all-time NFL coaching wins, he deferred discussion of his legacy for another time.

“I’ll be able to talk about that when it’s over,” Belichick said then. “Add them up at the end or whatever.”

That last part hinted at the last unchecked box for Belichick. He’s not alone in that thinking.




Shula coached until he was 66, retiring as a new ownership group — with its eyes fixed on Jimmy Johnson — sought to bring changes to his staff.

When he finally reflected on his legacy years later in an interview with The New York Times, Shula said: “You’ve got to look at the numbers. That’s pretty important. I coached 33 years (and) won the most games.”

Halas coached the Chicago Bears until he was 72, the oldest to ever lead an NFL team full-time. (Romeo Crennel was 73 when he served as the Houston Texans’ interim coach in 2020.)



Belichick hasn’t been forthcoming about his long-term plans or how much longer he wants to coach.

That’s why, when thinking about Belichick’s eventual retirement, much of it could come down to how quickly he overtakes Shula for the record.


In all likelihood, it will take two, maybe three more years. Despite going 8-9 last season and posting a sub-.500 record in two of the three years since Brady left, the Patriots are confident that 2023 will yield better results. They believe installing Bill O’Brien as offensive coordinator will improve that side of the ball, that the defense will continue playing at a high level and that the special teams will get better since, well, it would be hard for them to do any worse than 2022. Combine all of that and the Patriots could be a 10-win team this fall.


continued..

[whatever_gong82]

At that point, Belichick probably would be one year away from the record — and a subsequent decision about his future.



But it’s worth exploring what happens if the Patriots are wrong. What if the injury bug hits, the offensive scheme change doesn’t work or quarterback Mac Jones doesn’t improve? What if the Patriots go 5-12?



That’s the worst-case scenario for the organization, not just because it would mean another lost season without a playoff win (the franchise has none since 2019), but because of the position into which the Kraft family could be thrust.



The Patriots ownership group, led by Robert Kraft, has always deferred to Belichick on football matters. After Belichick briefly benched Jones for Bailey Zappe last season, Jonathan Kraft told the team’s flagship radio station that Belichick had “earned the right to manage the team that way.”



But if the Patriots descend into a team that’s not competing for the playoffs, would the Krafts sit idly by, waiting for Belichick to reach the record? Would pressure be ramped up to a point where they’d feel obligated to intervene?




On one hand, it would be cruelly ironic if the Patriots fired Belichick, the coach who was always willing to cut players, no matter their stature or prominence. And if the Krafts are serious about doing whatever it takes to win — and every indication over the last 29 years is that they are — how could they stick with Belichick if his teams become no longer competitive?



On the other hand, how could they just cut ties with arguably the greatest football coach of all time, one who helped turn the Patriots into the most successful sports franchise in North America over the last two decades?



Of course, the most likely outcome is that the Patriots’ short-term success doesn’t fall off in a drastic way. Belichick has never won fewer than seven games in a season since a five-win debut performance in New England in 2000. There are plenty of reasons to believe last season’s issues were the result of a poorly constructed offensive coaching staff, and that seems to be resolved with the hiring of O’Brien.



The Patriots could again be a team aiming for eight to 10 wins and fighting for a wild-card spot. If that’s their trajectory, Belichick would probably get his record in late 2024 or early 2025. After that, perhaps he’d retire to Nantucket.



Robert Kraft badly wants to win again. He’s 81 and still investing much of his time and money into the team. The Patriots are wrapping up a $225 million renovation of Gillette Stadium and the team’s headquarters this summer.



One day, surely, there will be a statue of Belichick — much like Jim Brown’s — outside the stadium. It’ll list his accomplishments: six Super Bowl wins, nine AFC titles, 17 division championships. And, if all goes according to plan, the most wins of any head coach.



Chad Graff is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the New England Patriots after five years on the Minnesota Vikings beat. Graff joined The Athletic in January 2018 after covering a bit of everything for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He's a New Hampshire native and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire. Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadGraff. Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadGraff