Getty Cam Newton
The New England Patriots went from a team with salary cap issues to having more than $35 million available to spend on free agents, etc. Does Cam Newton deserve a raise out of this money?
If you ask NBC Sports Boston’s Phil Perry and Tom Curran, the answer to this question is yes.
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Opt-Outs Create a Huge Surplus of Money for the Patriots
Up to now, the Patriots have had eight players opt-out of the upcoming NFL season. That mass exodus of players with concerns about health heading into a season that will have its challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. After the dust has settled, the Patriots have $35.2 million available cap space. That’s more than enough money for the Patriots to look at the cream of the remaining free-agent crop to fill some holes.
That means Jadeveon Clowney, Marcell Dareus, Damon Harrison, Delanie Walker, Logan Ryan, Eric Reid, Demar Dotson, and more. While some of those guys could still be signed, there is one pressing question that Perry and Curran discussed on a recent episode of Patriots Talk.
Does Cam Newton Deserve a Raise?
“If you do sign a big-name free agent and pay him a guaranteed $5 million, how much is that going to go over with Newton,” Curran asked Perry.
Perry’s answer was, not all that well.
Newton signed a very modest, one-year contract that only guarantees him only $550,000. The contract is loaded with incentives, but at the most, he can make a little over $7.5 million for 2020 if he hits all of his benchmarks. Mind you, many of them will be very difficult for him to attain, such as winning the Super Bowl.
Perry said, in speaking about an example that included a potential signing of Dareus, “you’re gonna pay that guy about five times more than I’m guaranteed, and I’m supposed to be your starting quarterback?”
Curran stresses, the Patriots didn’t have the money to offer Newton when he was signed initially, but they do now. Perry believes the Patriots shouldn’t just give Newton a raise if they sign someone, he says they should bump up his pay sooner rather than later. In fact, specifically, Perry suggested the Patriots should remove some of the incentives and simply give him the full value of the contract for 2020.
When is the Right Time to Give Newton a Raise?
Giving Newton a raise makes sense, but quite honestly, it shouldn’t come before he has won the starting quarterback job. Because the Patriots are maintaining the idea that this is an open competition between Newton, Jarrett Stidham, and Brian Hoyer, they should not pay the former like a starter until they have appointed him as such.
It will be interesting to see how this conversation evolves as we get a gauge on how this competition is going.