Cam Newton: One New England Patriots Regret

Cam Newton's Foxborough regrets match the jersey he wore in a single, doomed season with the New England Patriots.

If anything, Newton will forever go down as a popular New England trivia question answer: the 2015 MVP was the Patriots' first starting quarterback in the post-Tom Brady era after the arguable GOAT went south to Tampa Bay in 2020. While the Patriots opened the decade with plenty of bad luck beyond the top quarterback slot, Newton failed to present himself as a long-term option for life after Brady, leading to Mac Jones' arrival in the first round of the next spring's draft.

Newton spoke about his New England tenure on his YouTube series "4th and 1," which also hosted his fellow former Patriot Jakobi Meyers. The quarterback's sole regret was a factor beyond his control, as he primarily rued a lack of fans at Gillette Stadium during an NFL campaign affected by the height of COVID-19 restrictions.

“My biggest regret from New England is the fact that I didn’t play in front of the fans,” Newton said. “Because me being me, I feed off of the energy of people, whether it’s a ‘boo!’, whether it’s an ‘ooh’, whether it’s a ‘ahh!’ or a ‘nahh!’ "I feed off of that and I use that. When we was in (those) doggone stadiums and it was empty, they (were) pumping crowd noise, I’m like, ‘Man, this (expletive) is weak.’”

New England was one of 13 NFL teams that did not allow fans in the stands during the 2020 season. Perhaps the powers that be were trying to do Patriots fans a favor: the first year without a Brady yielded the team's first losing season (7-9) since head coach Bill Belichick's arrival in 2000. Newton was able to muster wins over Miami and Las Vegas over the first three weeks of the season but the rest of the Foxborough slate was a mostly bleak affair, a stretch that included one-sided losses to San Francisco and Buffalo.

Despite Jones moving the Patriots into the playoffs during his rookie season, things have only gotten worse since Newton's departure: the modern Patriots (2-5) got off to their worst start since 1995 and many believe that the team is counting down the days until the offseason, when yet another franchise quarterback search can begin.

Newton, however, came to his successor's defense on the program, praising his poise and performance in New England's shocking victory over the Buffalo Bills last Sunday. Jones completed 25-of-30 passes for 272 yards and two scores, the latter being a game-winning strike to Mike Gesicki in the final minute.

“For the first time this year, I really saw emotions out of Mac Jones,” Newton said. “That competitiveness, he was making big-time throws, playing with confidence. Even in murky, dirty pockets, he was still making plays, like Mac Jones can.”

The next opportunity for Jones to keep up the Newton-approved momentum comes on Sunday when the Patriots hit the road to face the AFC East-leading Miami Dolphins (1 p.m. ET, CBS).