Since the Patriots drafted Mac Jones, head coach Bill Belichick has maintained Cam Newton will be the team’s starting quarterback until someone beats him out.
Or in other words, Newton is still the starting quarterback — for now.
But with the regular season now less than a month away, there’s no guarantee that Newton will be behind center for the opener against the Dolphins.
Newton addressed that on Monday. While he initially deflected, saying, “You know the answer to that question,” he eventually explicitly set out what he has and hasn’t been told.
“Y’all sitting up here asking silly questions to me and I’m looking at y’all with the same thing. I don’t know what y’all want me to say,” Newton said, via Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald. “You know, you know that. You know he hasn’t said that, so for you to just ask the question, it is what it is.
“So every single day I’m coming out here with the intention to just get better. That’s the only thing I can do. I can control that. But as far as somebody else’s analogy or interpretation for what Week One is, I’m trying to focus on what tomorrow brings, and making adjustments in tonight’s meetings.”
Newton went on to add that there’s so much time between now and the first game of the regular season that it being named the starter isn’t his focus.
“I don’t take [your questions] personal. I just want you guys to understand, everything y’all know, I know,” Newton said. “There’s no hidden motives or things like that. I do know those things like that, I can’t worry about. Because each and every day, I don’t necessarily care about who’s starting, I mostly care about making sure I put the best product out there for me, and I know Mac is feeling the same way, I know Brian [Hoyer] is feeling the same way and everybody else, going down each and every position.
“As far as Week One, we’ve got so much to worry about prior to Week 1. And that’s where my focus is right now.”
With Jones continuing to make progress, there is a chance Newton won’t be New England’s QB1 by the time the season starts. But a lot can happen over the course of a month, and Newton does have the advantage of experience in the league and in the Patriots’ offensive system.