Even with Mac Jones, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick says ‘Cam’s our quarterback’

Shortly after taking Alabama quarterback Mac Jones with his first pick in the 2021 NFL Draft at No. 15, Bill Belichick made one thing perfectly clear during his video call with the media:

Cam Newton remains his starting quarterback.

“Cam’s our quarterback,” said Belichick. “Whatever time Jarrett (Stidham) or Mac are ready to challenge and compete, we’ll see how that goes. But right now, for Mac, he’s got a lot of learning in front of him. I know he’s very anxious to get going on it, and get started.”

In other words, Newton is the incumbent and therefore leader in the clubhouse. Whether talking about Jones or Stidham, they are going to have to beat out Newton, who is likely to be the starter Week 1.

Asked how long Newton would remain the starter, Belichick said: “I don’t know . . . Somebody has to play better than he does.”

Belichick dodged questions about whether Jones was the Patriots top quarterback choice among the field of signal-callers expected to go in the first round. He also wouldn’t say if he considered moving up to make sure he landed the Alabama quarterback. He cracked that he “missed a lot of those mock drafts” so he wasn’t familiar where all the quarterbacks were supposed to go.

“Mac was available there at our pick. He’s a guy we spent a lot of time with. We felt like that was probably the best pick at that time for us,” said Belichick. “We look forward to working with him. He’s a smart kid, he’s been in a system that’s similar to ours. We’ve had a lot of good conversations with him. I think he’ll be able to process the offense. It’s obviously going to take a lot of time. We’ll see how it goes.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3e4GEqL