Cam Newton's tenure with the New England Patriots was short lived.
He signed late in the offseason, won the starting job and played 15 of 16 games during the COVID-impacted 2020 NFL season.
Newton completed 65.8 percent of his passes (one of the highest marks of his career) but threw for just 2,657 yards with eight touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He did make a strong impact running the football, tallying 592 yards and a team record 12 touchdowns on the ground.
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Ultimately, it didn't work out for him or the Patriots as the team struggled to a 7-9 record and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008. Newton's time in Foxboro ended after he lost the quarterback competition to rookie Mac Jones in 2021 and was released in August of that year.
On the latest episode of his podcast, titled "4th & 1", Newton talked about the lack of fans at stadiums (due to COVID restrictions) impacted him.
"My biggest regret from New England is the fact that I didn't play in front of the fans," Newton said. "Cause me being me, I feed off of the energy of people, whether it's a 'boo!', whether it's a 'ooh', whether it's a 'ahh!' or a 'nahh!' I feed off of that and I use that. And when we was in them doggone stadiums and it was empty, they was pumping crowd noise, I'm like, 'Man, this (expletive) is weak.' "
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Carolina Panthers fans know very well how Newton's play is able to lift the energy at the stadium and create a buzz. The best example of that was the 2015 season during which Newton won league MVP and led the Panthers to a 15-1 record before losing to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50.
Newton returned to the Panthers after his one season with the Patriots and played in eight games for Carolina in 2021. He has not played since.