Former NFL MVP Cam Newton has reached a season-long, incentive-packed deal with the New England Patriots, league sources told Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter of ESPN.
Newton will now enter the competition to try to replace former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who emigrated to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in free agency. The Patriots did not select a quarterback in last April’s draft.
The Carolina Panthers released Newton on March 24, ending their nine-year relationship with the quarterback they selected first overall in 2011.
Carolina continued without her franchise quarterback once they agreed to contract with free agent Teddy Bridgewater to become the club’s new starter.
Newton, who is still rehabilitating from foot surgery, underwent a physical test in Atlanta on March 23 that was coordinated by the Panthers and his agency, sources told Schefter.
Newton, who turned 31 in May, passed the physical test and is healthy, with both his shoulder and his foot “doing well,” a source told Schefter. “He is hungrier than ever, and eager for the next opportunity.”
He was the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 2015 when he was responsible for 45 total touchdowns in the regular season and led the Panthers to the Super Bowl, where they lost 24-10 to the Denver Broncos. The Panthers have made the playoffs only once since then, a loss in the 2017 Wild Card Round to the New Orleans Saints in 2017.
Newton, who holds most of Carolina’s pass records, missed 14 games last season with a Lisfranc injury, and the final two games of the 2018 season with a shoulder problem that also required surgery.
Overall, he has passed for 29,041 yards with 182 touchdowns and 108 interceptions and has run for 4,806 yards with 58 touchdowns.
Information from David Newton was used in the writing of this note.
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