Cam Newton will reveal all of what Josh McDaniels is as an offensive mind

Cam Newton’s arrival will keep expectations high in New England, while allowing Josh McDaniels to try new things.

After Tom Brady left, the New England Patriots were easy to tie to Cam Newton. The move to sign him finally was made Sunday night, and it will only be a matter of time before Newton wins the starting job over Jarrett Stidham.

As much as Patriots head coach Bill Belichick wants to prove he can win without Brady, the stakes are also high for offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. Working with Brady has naturally put McDaniels in the background, even though he has consistently been a head coaching candidate and never made the move to leave.

But now, with Newton as the all but certain new starting quarterback, McDaniels will have the opportunity to spread his wings as an offensive mind.

What Will Cam Newton Add To The Patriots’ Offense?

The core [principles of the Patriots’ ever-malleable offense won’t change, and Newton should be able to do everything Brady did in the passing game (assuming he’s healthy). But Brady, outside of being effective on quarterback sneaks, is of course not and never was a prolific running quarterback.

By some measures, Newton has a case to be called the best running quarterback in NFL history. At minimum, he is the best running quarterback of the last decade. As offenses use run-pass options with the quarterback as a threat to keep it and run, the Patriots have not have that secondary running threat available to them.

McDaniels has had a running quarterback before. As the Denver Broncos head coach in 2010 he had Tim Tebow, who simply couldn’t throw the ball consistently but was a runner along the same lines as Newton.

In 2016, as Brady served a four-game “DeflateGate” suspension and after Jimmy Garoppolo was injured, Jacoby Brissett started two games as a rookie. The Patriots offense morphed to fit where he could be most effective, with a 27-0 win over the Houston Texans offering the best glimpse of how a quarterback’s running ability might be deployed if it were available.

Newton, assuming his shoulder is right, should be able to push the ball downfield a little more than Brady did. Being able to move outside the pocket and extend plays in that way opens up some options (designed or otherwise) too. And in the play-action/RPO game, opposing defenses will have to account for the quarterback as a runner with Newton under center. Split-seconds of hesitation by second-level defenders will be costly if the right decisions are made.

McDaniels will be a candidate to leave the Patriots for a head coaching job until he does so, or he succeeds Belichick. But out from the umbrella of Brady and with Newton has the quarterback, he will have an opportunity to spread his wings as an offensive mind and try some things. In time, how good McDaniels is will be revealed.