The New England Patriots made the announcement at a team meeting on Thursday: Cam Newton will be the starting quarterback. According to multiple reports, the coaching staff shared the decision with their players.
It comes as little surprise. When Newton signed with the team earlier this offseason, he was immediately the favorite to win the job. The Patriots seemd to want Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer to compete with Newton during training camp. But Hoyer and Stidham quickly fell behind Newton, who knocked off rust from his injury and learned New England’s system.
“I can see why he had the kind of success he had at Auburn and Carolina,” Bill Belichick said on Sirius XM’s NFL radio. “Talking to people who were with him there, the things they said about him at Auburn and at Carolina from a decade ago or two to three years ago or even last year, it’s all the same and it showed up here. He’s an extremely hard worker. Nobody works harder than Cam does. He’s here early, he stays late, and he works very hard.”
The #Patriots named Cam Newton the starting QB today in a team meeting, source confirms (as @globejimmcbride said. It had been looking that way in camp, but now official.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 3, 2020
Newton and the Patriots will take on the Miami Dolphins in Week 1 at Gillette Stadium on Sept. 13.
