Foxworth and Spears: Browns Should Sign Newton

Here is what Foxworth said about signing Newton and the possible negative effect it could have on Mayfield.

“I think they should. I wouldn"t be concerned," Foxworth answered when asked if Cleveland should sign Newton, the 2015 MVP. “Some of the arguments for why teams haven"t brought in [Colin] Kaepernick is because you don"t want Kaepernick on the roster when you have a young quarterback, and that could intimidate him. I"m not worried about being intimidated if I"m Baker Mayfield. I think Baker Mayfield responds to that challenge well."

Foxworth also pointed to Mayfield"s poor 2019 and some 2020 projections that are not kind to the young quarterback.

“Some of Baker"s numbers suggest he"s an average to below-average NFL quarterback. You know what Cam Newton is not and never has been? Average or below average," Foxworth said. “This championship window is now for this team. This roster is built to win today. They"re not going to be able to hold onto all this talent moving forward. I think Cam Newton could be a great insurance policy and maybe somebody who steps in mid-year to take this team and this offense to the level that we all expected it to be.

Foxworth, all in all, feels that Cam Newton might be a better fit for the win now Browns. Foxworth wasn"t the only one on the Newton train as Marcus Spears spoke up also.

“No question. And look, I know we get enamored with the fact he"s working out with OBJ, but if you look at it, and look — I"ve been on this train about Baker not being an elite quarterback in this league," Spears said. “I just didn"t see it. I still don"t know if he can reach that level. I think he can be formidable. I think he could help teams have good seasons, but to think that he"s going to be a guy who"s going to be championship-level, I just don"t see it."

Spears seemed even more enthusiastic about Newton in a Cleveland Browns jersey than Foxworth. As you can see from the above quote, Spears is not on the Baker bandwagon, and he kept right on going.

“Newton is still good. Cam Newton missed football because of injury. Cam Newton didn"t miss football because he couldn"t play the quarterback spot anymore. And when you look at all this talent, the pressure that will be off Cam Newton having to run, use his legs and create plays, will be different than any situation he"s ever been in and he"s had some good teams in Carolina. But when you line up the personnel for Cam Newton that Cleveland will have, then he will take less hits. He will be able to turn around and hand it off to [Nick] Chubb and Kareem Hunt. He will have receivers that will get open on a consistent basis. I think this is a layup to sign Cam Newton to see where he can take you if Baker Mayfield doesn"t turn out."

Not Happening

Even though both of these analysts are pushing for Newton, the Browns are still high on Mayfield and expect him to succeed. They also gave Case Keenum a generous contract to back up the former Heisman winner. In the end, the Cleveland Browns have their starting and backup quarterbacks already in place. Newton is a good quarterback and will find a job at some point this offseason. That job will not be the quarterback of the Cleveland Browns. Andrew Berry and the coaching staff have put too much into this offseason to set Mayfield up for success. It would not make any sense to reverse course at this point.

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