Cam Newton won’t return to practice until Thursday, perhaps giving Mac Jones a better opportunity to be a starting quarterback on opening day. Newton violated the league’s COVID protocols for daily testing for unvaccinated players.
Under league rules, players who aren’t vaccinated – like Newton – need to be tested daily. Unvaccinated players need to be tested only once every two weeks. (This is one way the league has tried to encourage players to get vaccinated.)
In this case, it appears that Newton was away from the facility for a day, trying to sub in a COVID test from a third party. The protocols require those tests to be performed at the team site, so it’s treated the same as if Newton simply missed a test.
"He received daily COVID tests, which were all negative. Due to a misunderstanding about tests conducted away from NFL facilities, and as required by the NFL-NFLPA protocols, Cam will be subject to the five-day entry cadence process before returning to the facility," said a statement released by the team.
This rule could cause problems for other unvaccinated players in the future. When teams have a bye week, for example, it will be harder for the player to re-join the team for practices – he would need to go through a five-day waiting period before fully returning. (Try running this by Cole Beasley, Kirk Cousins and Adam Thielen – I’m sure they’ll be excited by this rule.)
In this case, the missed practice time could play a role in Mac Jones ascending to a starting role for Week 1. Jones has played well so far; he appears to be a better passer than Newton already, with better accuracy and decision making. And this situation could help Jones get a nice long run with the first-unit offense in the third preseason game.
Newton wasn’t an effective passer last year. He averaged only 177 passing yards in the 15 games he started, with 8 TDs and 10 interceptions. He’s got some running ability, but as a passer, he’s just not that good anymore, with too many wild throws.
If Newton is somehow able to turn things around, he’ll be beating the odds. In the last 15 years, 52 other quarterbacks have started at least half the season and averaged under 190 passing yards per game. Only six of those quarterbacks were able to come back the next year, start at least half the season, and average more than 220 passing yards (and teams probably will average 250-260 passing yards this season).
In the chart below, you’re not seeing the poor season by each quarterback. You’re seeing their passing stats from the next year – starts, passing yards, TD passes and interceptions (per-start numbers).
| STRUGGLING PASSERS (the next year) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | St | Pass | TD | Int |
| 2007 | David Garrard | 12 | 209.1 | 1.50 | .25 |
| 2007 | Trent Green | 5 | 197.4 | 1.00 | 1.40 |
| 2007 | Vince Young | 15 | 169.7 | .60 | 1.13 |
| 2007 | Alex Smith | 7 | 130.6 | .29 | .57 |
| 2007 | David Carr | 4 | 119.0 | .75 | 1.25 |
| 2007 | Charlie Frye | 1 | 34.0 | .00 | 1.00 |
| 2007 | Michael Vick | 0 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
| 2007 | Jake Plummer | 0 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
| 2007 | Bruce Gradkowski | 0 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
| 2007 | Andrew Walter | 0 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
| 2007 | Aaron Brooks | 0 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
| 2008 | • Jeff Garcia | 11 | 238.1 | 1.00 | .45 |
| 2008 | Trent Edwards | 14 | 192.8 | .79 | .71 |
| 2008 | Tarvaris Jackson | 5 | 188.6 | 1.60 | .40 |
| 2008 | Vince Young | 1 | 110.0 | 1.00 | 2.00 |
| 2008 | Josh McCown | 0 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
| 2008 | Kellen Clemens | 0 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
| 2009 | Seneca Wallace | 2 | 259.0 | 1.00 | .50 |
| 2009 | • Joe Flacco | 16 | 225.8 | 1.31 | .75 |
| 2009 | Kerry Collins | 6 | 178.5 | .83 | 1.33 |
| 2009 | Marc Bulger | 9 | 163.2 | .56 | .67 |
| 2009 | Ryan Fitzpatrick | 8 | 162.5 | 1.00 | 1.13 |
| 2009 | JaMarcus Russell | 9 | 118.2 | .22 | 1.00 |
| 2009 | Derek Anderson | 7 | 113.7 | .43 | 1.00 |
| 2010 | • Ryan Fitzpatrick | 13 | 230.8 | 1.77 | 1.15 |
| 2010 | Mark Sanchez | 16 | 205.7 | 1.06 | .81 |
| 2010 | Jake Delhomme | 4 | 193.8 | .50 | 1.25 |
| 2010 | Vince Young | 8 | 145.4 | 1.13 | .25 |
| 2010 | Marc Bulger | 0 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
| 2010 | Brady Quinn | 0 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
| 2010 | JaMarcus Russell | 0 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
| 2011 | Vince Young | 3 | 288.7 | 1.33 | 2.67 |
| 2011 | Jason Campbell | 6 | 195.0 | 1.00 | .67 |
| 2011 | Jimmy Clausen | 0 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
| 2012 | Christian Ponder | 16 | 183.4 | 1.13 | .75 |
| 2012 | Blaine Gabbert | 10 | 166.2 | .90 | .60 |
| 2012 | Tim Tebow | 0 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
| 2012 | Curtis Painter | 0 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
| 2013 | Blaine Gabbert | 3 | 160.3 | .33 | 2.33 |
| 2013 | Christian Ponder | 9 | 142.2 | .56 | .78 |
| 2013 | Brady Quinn | 0 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
| 2014 | Christian Ponder | 1 | 222.0 | .00 | 2.00 |
| 2014 | Kellen Clemens | 0 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
| 2015 | Geno Smith | 0 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
| 2016 | Nick Foles | 1 | 187.0 | 1.00 | .00 |
| 2017 | Cody Kessler | 0 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
| 2018 | • Mitchell Trubisky | 14 | 230.2 | 1.71 | .86 |
| 2018 | Tyrod Taylor | 3 | 154.0 | .67 | .67 |
| 2019 | • Ryan Tannehill | 10 | 259.8 | 2.20 | .50 |
| 2019 | Marcus Mariota | 6 | 196.5 | 1.17 | .33 |
| 2019 | Josh Allen | 16 | 193.1 | 1.25 | .56 |
| 2019 | Josh Rosen | 3 | 155.0 | .33 | 1.00 |
| 2021 | Lamar Jackson | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| 2021 | Cam Newton | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| 2021 | Sam Darnold | ? | ? | ? | ? |
—Ian Allan