What It Means:

In his first public remarks since Newton signed with the Patriots, Belichick said "that spot is the same as all the other spots on the team. We have a long way to go. We'll see how things turn out. I can't control how players perform; that's up to them. We'll give everyone an opportunity and see what happens. I don't know." It would have been a surprise if Belichick said almost anything else. Newton is expected to compete for the starting quarterback job with sophomore Jarrett Stidham. numberFire's models expect Newton to win the starting job and hold it for the entire season.

Newton is the QB10 in our preseason fantasy rankings. His projection includes 338.2 completions on 545.5 attempts for 3,748.3 yards, 26.1 touchdowns, and 14.6 interceptions. We expect him to add 395.0 rushing yards and 5.1 rushing touchdowns on 86.4 attempts.