Free agent profile: Quarterback Cam Newton

The Denver Broncos have been needing to find a legitimate quarterback since Peyton Manning retired after Super Bowl 50. They’ve churned through more starting QBs than any other team in that stretch of time and have been absolutely abysmal at finding anything resembling a competent starter at QB.

Could free agent Cam Newton be the answer for the Broncos QB situation in 2021?

Player Profile

Height: 6’ 5”
Weight: 245 pounds
Age: 31 years old
Experience: 10 seasons

Why it makes sense

Cam Newton is a guy you can plug in and run an offense with without needing to worry about whether or not he has what it takes. With a good offseason of recovery, his legs may still allow him to add a dynamic to the offense that you don’t have with standard pocket QBs.

Cam has 10 years of experience under his belt. He’s beaten some very good teams over the years and has won an NFC championship.

Why it doesn’t make sense

To be real here, Cam is on the wrong end of his career. In my personal opinion, his game was built off his freakish athleticism and that is starting to go away or at least be a liability for injury at this stage in his career.

Even then, he’s never been what I think of as a modern “thinking” NFL QB. He’s not going to go 3-4 reads deep and pick your coverage schemes apart. He’s had the most success with simple reads and using his legs when those couple of reads don’t work.

He also will likely cost a pretty penny that could be better spent elsewhere.

Final Thoughts

I wouldn’t hate the Broncos picking up Cam Newton and that is because even with my low opinion of Cam’s game, I think he’s a solid upgrade from Drew Lock (significantly so). The hard part is the risk in my books. Will he stay healthy? Can he if he needs to scramble to make the offense successful?

The Broncos definitely need to something at quarterback, but going with Cam would be a pretty sub-optimal offseason move in this writer’s opinion.