The last time we saw Cam Newton healthy he was playing at an MVP level and having arguably the best season of his career. Through the first eight games of the 2018 season Newton had 1,893 passing yards, 15 passing touchdowns, and 4 interceptions along with 352 rushing yards and 4 rushing touchdowns. Those numbers end up being 3,786 passing yards, 30 passing touchdowns, and 8 interceptions along with 704 rushing yards and 8 rushing touchdowns. Through those eight games Newton had a completion percentage of 67.3, which is the highest in his career, and the Panthers were 6-2. Newton had a major shoulder injury in week nine that he played through until eventually ending his season because of the injury. Newton lost every game after the shoulder injury. Obviously the injury is the reason Newton wasn’t good, and then the next year he suffered a foot injury in the preseason, tried to play through it but clearly wasn’t the same player, and went on IR after two games. If Newton is fully healthy, he is an MVP-caliber player, but if not, he might not even be the Patriots’ starter, so he is very risky. Many are concerned about Newton’s fit in the Patriots offense, but Newton is actually the perfect fit. The Panther’s offensive coordinator from 2018, the season in which Newton had the highest completion percentage of his career, was Norv Turner. Turner has publicly stated that the offense the Panthers ran that year was incredibly similar to the Patriots offense. In fact, both offenses were the same scheme. The big difference between the two is just that the Panther’s offense incorporated quarterback runs while the Patriots didn’t. Now that Newton is there, the Patriots will incorporate designed quarterback runs. They did it when Jacoby Brissett started for two games and Josh McDaniels did it when he coached Tim Tebow in Denver. The only concern with Newton other than his health is the fact that the Patriots don’t have many weapons. The thing is, Newton has played with bad weapons for his entire career and still has been very successful. Plus, the Patriots receiving core has a lot of upside with young players like N’Keal Harry and Jakobi Meyers along with a healthy Julian Edelman and Mohamed Sanu (both of whom were very banged up last year). The key difference between the Patriots and Newton’s old teams is that the Patriots have a MUCH better offensive line. Overall, Cam Newton has top-5 upside with the Patriots but is incredibly risky, so it makes sense to grab him late in the draft and pair him with another quarterback.