Finding the best football fit for Cam Newton
Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson and Terez Paylor discuss which teams would be a great fit for the former NFL MVP - even if they may not be considering him for their respective rosters. Subscribe to the Yahoo Sports NFL Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Video Transcript
CHARLES ROBINSON: Now, I will ask you this-- put Cam Newton in a backup situation-- so obviously, if that's the only thing that's on the table, then he's going through what I call the Jameis Winston process, and that is sitting here and saying to himself, what is the best place for me to go next season and the year after that, 2021, be-- be Bridgewater, be Ryan Tannehill. He-- he's saying, where-- where do I go to be the guy? Just got to wait a year. And where do I go to be the guy?
Pick a team that you would put him on. I'm not saying-- they don't even have to be interested. Pick a team and say, this is where I want this guy to go.
TEREZ PAYLOR: I think the team I would pick for that, actually, is still the Chargers. Like I said, there's just not, like, a lot of great situations.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Right.
TEREZ PAYLOR: And I think that was the point of your-- like, there's not a lot of great situations. Chicago would have interested me before they traded for Nick Foles, because I feel like Nags can get the most out of him. Matt Nagy could've gotten the most out of Cam Newton. We've seen him-- like, I know enough about him to know that they could have built a boot-heavy system. A creative enough system would take advantage of his skills, with the play action, with the RPOs, that type of deal. I think that actually would have been the best form. But, like, if you look through all these teams, there's not, like, a lot of great situations for a guy. I mean, here's the thing, though.
I do believe-- and I wrote this column earlier this week. I feel like Cleveland is one step away from having a really good offense. The quarterback play has to match what's going to be around him. Because there's going to be a lot around Baker Mayfield. And that is a play-action-heavy, run-heavy system that Cam, with his arm strength, could push the ball downfield, right.
So we're talking about football fits? That would work. We saw Kirk Cousins thrive in it. Cam could take it to another level. Boy, that-- again, that's a reach, too, because I think Baker is going to be just fine.
You know, you're interested-- I think it'd be fun seeing Cam Newton in Las Vegas. That's be kind of fun. But how does he fit in Gru's offense? Is Gru going to adjust what he-- his scheme to everything Cam wants to do? Probably not, because we know it's about-- it's about Gru.
CHARLES ROBINSON: I got a guy for you. You're going to like this. I think you're going to like this. You might hate it.
TEREZ PAYLOR: OK, all right, no, no, throw it at me. What you got?
CHARLES ROBINSON: But I'm-- I'm going to give it a shot. I-- I sat there, and I thought about it, and I'm like, if-- if I'm just going to do it myself, like I'm not saying they're interested, but if I'm going to put him with a guy and be excited about it, I'm going to take him, and I'm going to put them in New Orleans.
TEREZ PAYLOR: Yes, that's pretty good.
CHARLES ROBINSON: And I'm going to put him with Sean Payton. Because I believe Sean Payton is a smart guy who can adapt his-- he can do what he needs to do offensively to get the most out of a player. Taysom Hill is there, OK. They really love Taysom Hill. I think if you go through this next season, it gives you the ability to-- Drew's in place, Cam comes in, he learns the system, whatever the situation is. You continue to use Taysom Hill the way you're using him now.
The complication with this is Taysom Hill is not necessarily young. Like, he's-- I think he's, like, 29 or 30. He's a guy that you're-- effectively you've chosen to groom for the Drew Brees job. So that complicates things, which is why I am not suggesting that the Saints are actually-- they're not in the Cam Newton market.
TEREZ PAYLOR: We're just talking. Right, we're just--
CHARLES ROBINSON: Right, we're just talking.
TEREZ PAYLOR: Like the Browns aren't either. Like, I'm just--
CHARLES ROBINSON: Right, exactly.
TEREZ PAYLOR: We're just talking. We're throwing out scenarios. Don't aggregate this, people.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah, don't-- don't hit us up on Twitter going, you're so stupid. Baker-- Baker, and Drew, and Taysom, and-- you know what, just calm down.
TEREZ PAYLOR: We-- we both think Baker is good. We both think baker's going to be fine. He'll be better than last year. But we're just talking about football fits and fun.
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