Cam Newton finally found a new team this week when he agreed to a one-year, $1.05 million contract with the New England Patriots that can earn him up to $7.5 million in incentives. Newton will compete with Jarrett Stidham to be the Patriots starter his year, which he is favored to win. The Vikings didn’t express any interest in bringing Newton in — but should they have?
Here are some reasons why the Vikings could regret not upgrading their backup quarterback position with a player like Newton.
the Vikings are in a win-now mode
The Vikings made it to the Divisional Round of the playoffs a season ago and will look to go even further this season. They’ve upgraded plenty of areas on their team, and while they are certainly young at some positions, their roster is strong from top to bottom. Mike Zimmer is also in a contract year and should put all the chips on the table to ensure he is extended at season’s end. General manager Rick Spielman is in the same boat as Zimmer, and if the season goes south, he could also find himself out of a job.
To eliminate the risk of being let go, one would think the head coach and the general manager would take all necessary precautions and make sure this team can compete no matter what hardships come their way. That would include upgrading the depth at the most important position in all of sports with a capable player.
It is worth arguing whether or not Newton would’ve accepted a backup role, as there’s no way he’d be given a shot to compete with Cousins. If the Vikings would’ve offered a similar deal to what the Patriots did, perhaps Newton would’ve accepted the reality that his future in the league will be as a backup.
Zimmer and Spielman’s jobs could come down to the backup quarterback position if things go the wrong way for the Vikings this year. Tying their fates to Sean Mannion could be a major mistake that costs them both their employment with the team and changes the look of this franchise for the foreseeable future.
Newton could lead the team to victory in the wake of a Cousins injury
Minnesota is are taking many risks this season with their roster. They are going with a very young group of cornerbacks, they have questionable depth at many positions, and their starting guards could end up being some of the worst in the NFL. They are also banking that Cousins stays healthy all season. If he does, the team should compete all the way into January.
But if he gets hurt, the Vikings will be in a world of trouble.
Mannion has started two games in his NFL career and seen some spot duty in others. In those contests, he’s thrown for 384 yards with zero touchdowns and three interceptions. That is a quarterback rating of 57.5. Those numbers show what kind of trouble a Mannion-led Vikings offense would be in.
Minnesota would have to drastically change its offensive plan of attack if Mannion had to take over for an extended period of time. They’d definitely run the ball a lot more, and also use a controlled passing attack with plenty of safe throws. Two tight end sets would be the norm, and the receivers would be asked to run a lot of underneath routes.
This would be a chain moving, clock grinding, type of attack that would rarely take shots down the field, and this type of offense needs a very strong defense to complement it. The Vikings’ young group of corners would have to keep teams under 20 points a week — quite the tall task.
Newton is a quarterback who could lead the team to victories. Unlike Mannion, he’s had success in the league for a long time. In his career, he’s amassed 29,041 passing yards and run for 4,806. He’s accounted for 240 career touchdowns, and his career passer rating is 86.1.
While Newton isn’t the pure passer Cousins is, he is an underrated thrower of the football. The Vikings wouldn’t have to tweak their offense that much, but they would surely add in some quarterback keepers to utilize Newton’s skills as a runner. Having Newton as the backup quarterback would have vastly increased the Vikings’ chances of remaining competitive in the case of a season-ending injury to Cousins.
Will the Vikings regret not signing newton?
The answer is no if Cousins stays healthy all season long. If he gets hurt and misses the majority of the season, that would obviously change. If Mannion becomes the starter, it could be a recipe for disaster for the Vikings. It’s hard to see them winning more than five games in that scenario, and it would surely lead to the firing of both Zimmer and Spielman if the Vikings finish at the bottom of the NFC North.
So yes, they potentially could regret not bringing in this still talented signal-caller for insurance, but with Cousins’ history of being healthy, it’s clearly a chance they are willing to take.
