Cam Newton’s Backups: Who Starts For The Patriots; Brian Hoyer or Jarret Stidham?

Cam Newton’s positive test result means he won’t play against Kansas City. Who are his backups, and what are the Patriots options?

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Cam Newton’s Resurgence

Cam Newton has become the face of the Patriots offense this season. His numbers may not be eye-popping, but it’s clear that the Patriots identity revolves around him.

Newton’s running ability has made the Patriots a run-first team this season as they’ve already hit 200+ rushing yards in two weeks.

The Patriots don’t have a strong core of receivers, and thus relying on the ground game has done them good so far. However, with Newton out against Kansas City, the Patriots will lack that identity. It will be up to either Brian Hoyer or Jarrett Stidham to beat the Chiefs with their arms.

Brian Hoyer or Jarret Stidham

At the start of the summer, it looked like Jarrett Stidham had the starting job under control. The Patriots drafted him in the fourth round in 2019, and he served as Tom Brady’s backup.

However, this off-season he was beat out in training camp by both Cam Newton and Brian Hoyer, sliding in to the QB3 position. In fact, Stidham has been placed on the inactive list for the Patriots for all three games this year. Coaches still have a lot of positives to say about him.

“He’s a pleasure to work with because all he wants to ever do is get better and all he wants to do is improve and find a way to be more a part of playing,” quarterbacks coach Jedd Fisch said Tuesday.

With that being said, the Patriots will most likely start Brian Hoyer. Hoyer can best be described as a journeyman. He’s been a solid backup and even starter at times, but his play is largely inconsistent. The one good thing, however, is that he has been in the New England system before.

He was Tom Brady’s backup from 2009-2011 and again from 2017-2018. For the Chiefs, this is great news. Last time Hoyer played the Chiefs it was not pretty.

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