The second week of NFL free agency is here and many players are still searching for their next team. And while every player on the 53-man roster is important, of course most of the attention is on the quarterbacks.
One quarterback was a late addition to free agency when the Carolina Panthers released Cam Newton.
Cam was the league MVP just five years ago and is still only 30 years old. However, injuries have put his future in doubt and teams are unable to do standard medical testing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teams will have to weigh the potential outcomes before agreeing to a deal and it's a solid bet there will be an early out on any contract he signs.
But what if he is 100% healthy?
For this exercise, I projected a fully-healthy Newton and installed him as the starting quarterback on all 32 teams. The rest of the rosters remained the same.
I then looked at the average projected wins for teams with their current quarterback and the same with Cam as their starter.
Cam Newton Next Team: Best Fits
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins just traded for a Panthers quarterback, but it was Kyle Allen, not Cam. He joins Dwayne Haskins coming into his sophomore year and it doesn't appear that veteran Alex Smith is projected to hit the field anytime soon.
With Haskins penciled in as the starter for now, bringing in Cam would add more than two wins in expected value if he were to rejoin Ron Rivera in Washington.
Las Vegas Raiders
"If you have two quarterbacks, you don't have one." The Raiders signed Marcus Mariota to back up Derek Carr, but it could signal that head coach Jon Gruden and GM Mike Mayock have moved on from Carr as their franchise quarterback.
Whether they decide to go with Carr or Mariota, a healthy Cam would be an upgrade over either.
New England Patriots
Jarrett Stidham is currently in the unenviable position of being the guy who has to fill Tom Brady's shoes. Salary cap issues could make this move dead on arrival, but there is no doubt that a proven commodity like Cam would have a higher floor than Stidham.
The Patriots are not the favorites in the AFC East for the first time in forever, but with an upgrade at the most important position, they could climb right back into the driver's seat.
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jaguars currently have Gardner Minshew and Josh Dobbs as quarterback options, and those two names don't exactly exude a lot of confidence. That might be part of the plan for the Jaguars who could decide to see what they have in Minshew, and if they tank along the way, so be it.
The Jaguars project to have the lowest odds to make the playoffs in the AFC. Even with Cam, they would still average fewer than eight wins, so perhaps the Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes have already begun in North Florida.
Chicago Bears
I'll admit that when the quarterback carousel first started to turn, this is where I thought Cam would end up. The stats (and much of the eye test) say that Trubisky is not the long-term solution for the Bears, so they made a move to get Nick Foles from the Jaguars.
Cam would be worth more than 1.5 wins if he played over Trubisky, and would still be an upgrade over Foles as well. While this would be one of the best fits statistically, this move died when Chicago decided Foles was the answer to its quarterback problem.
2020 Projected NFL Win Totals With & Without Newton
Below are the average projected wins for each team and how they would change with Cam Newton as the starting quarterback.
