Pat Patriot
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- Mar 19, 2019
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The Patriots really like quarterback Cam Newton. But they didn’t like him enough to refrain from taking another quarterback with the fifteenth overall pick in the draft.
So now that Mac Jones is in the fold, can Jones ascend to the top of the depth chart before Week One?
Mike Reiss of ESPN.com emerged from seeing Jones at Thursday’s OTA session believing that the rookie already has shown that he’s mastering the nuances of the new England offense.
“Along those lines,” writes Reiss, “every throw from Jones in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills Thursday seemed to go to the right place. There was little, if any, indecisiveness. He’s probably further along than any Patriots rookie quarterback, at this point, than anyone who came before him.”
But Newton also has looked good as he enters his second season with the team. It’s possible that the Patriots will have two extremely viable options at quarterback. And if both are able to run the offense at a high level, consider this possibility: What if coach Bill Belichick, who crafts each week’s game plan based on the specific strengths, weaknesses, tendencies, and tells of the defense he’ll be facing, picks a quarterback each week based on which of the two options, Newton or Jones, will be better suited to run the plays envisioned for that week’s defense?
That possible approach cuts against the importance of having one quarterback who leads the team. But it potentially meshes with the idea that Belichick is always playing 4D chess, while everyone else isn’t.