The Awesome World of NFL 2020 NFL

[Zidane]

I still fully expect Stidham to be the starter. Cam Newton hasn't looked the same player for a while now.

Good signing for the Patriots. His health is a concern and probably always will be at this stage but for backup money, you can't go wrong bringing him in. Putting your season in Stidham's hands with no credible plan B would have been very risky.

Glad Cam found a team, class act.

 

[Dylan]

I hope Newton's healthy, just a great player when he's on form. I don't think he'll start the season but he could potentially be the best back-up in the league. It looks like a good deal on paper but everything hinges on how fit he is.

 

[Franco Pinion]

If Cam hits MVP form, the Patriots will be a scary team next year.

 

[Steve]

If Cam hits MVP form, the Patriots will be a scary team next year.

The defense only played well against the lesser teams, as soon as they played the better teams they were not good. Hard to say if the offense looks much better either in terms of talent; maybe Harry takes a big years leap, the new TE's work out, Harris steps up to be the lead running back but it's a lot of ifs on that side of the ball.

If Cam was capable of reaching MVP level again, I'm not sure the Panthers would have let him go in the first place.

 

[Tom]

If Cam was capable of reaching MVP level again, I'm not sure the Panthers would have let him go in the first place.

That's certainly true, albeit I think they just didn't trust him to stay healthy and they wanted to move on for that reason. At $1m it's too good to leave after you from the Patriots POV, and for Cam he knows that he has a very good chance of getting into the starting lineup there at some point and putting himself in the shop window, even if Stidham is the week 1 starter he is bound to have some ups and downs.

The backup QB market is in a really strange place with Winston signing for near league minimum as well, Dalton and Mariota as backups etc. There are some quite serviceable guys available at bargain money. It was unthinkable even a year ago that Newton or Winston would sign that kind of contract.

 

[David76]

That's certainly true, albeit I think they just didn't trust him to stay healthy and they wanted to move on for that reason. At $1m it's too good to leave after you from the Patriots POV, and for Cam he knows that he has a very good chance of getting into the starting lineup there at some point and putting himself in the shop window, even if Stidham is the week 1 starter he is bound to have some ups and downs.

The backup QB market is in a really strange place with Winston signing for near league minimum as well, Dalton and Mariota as backups etc. There are some quite serviceable guys available at bargain money. It was unthinkable even a year ago that Newton or Winston would sign that kind of contract.

I think rookie contracts are starting to change the market. A highly paid QB is such a massive hit to the rest of the team that they have to be brilliant or the team is screwed. Meanwhile, you have to compete with teams that have brilliant and cheap QBs like the Chiefs/Ravens.

 

[Geezer]

The pre-season has officially reduced from four games to two. I mean that's the HOF game and now two pre-season games gone already and it's just July and another two months before the regular season is meant to start. This does seem like cutting as much non-essential games and events around the regular season.

Cases in the USA aren't going down but spiking. What odds on us having a season at all lads?

 

[Tom]

The pre-season has officially reduced from four games to two. I mean that's the HOF game and now two pre-season games gone already and it's just July and another two months before the regular season is meant to start. This does seem like cutting as much non-essential games and events around the regular season.

Cases in the USA aren't going down but spiking. What odds on us having a season at all lads?

Personally, I don't see any football being played in September. Then it will all depend on how the league decides to move forward with a shorter season or push out the Super Bowl.

 

[Dylan]

I think rookie contracts are starting to change the market. A highly paid QB is such a massive hit to the rest of the team that they have to be brilliant or the team is screwed. Meanwhile, you have to compete with teams that have brilliant and cheap QBs like the Chiefs/Ravens.

Yes and the rookies coming in are better, or at least more pro-ready than in the past as college teams are passing much more, this is supposedly even filtering down to the high school game so QB's could be much more comfortable coming into the league in the future.

It probably won't affect the top of the market where Wilson, Mahomes etc will always command huge money but the middle of the road guys might have to settle for less in the future.

It'll be interesting to see if teams decide to move on from their expensive veteran QB in favour of a cheaper rookie. You could argue that the Pats have already done it and Green Bay may be moving in that direction.

 

[Steve]

The Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes have agreed to a TEN year extension according to Adam Schefter! The detail on this one will be interesting.