The New England Patriots surprised many in the NFL when they named Mac Jones as their starting quarterback for this season and released Cam Newton.
This decision by head coach Bill Belichick has been bringing out the hot takes as of late, especially from former Patriots players.
For one, longtime Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman—who featured with Newton last season—is far from shocked with this headline-making call from his former team.
As a new analyst for the “Inside the NFL” show on Paramount+, Edelman recently spoke on this matter during a conference call, where he referenced past major roster decisions made by Belichick to show that this move is not a surprise at all.
“Nothing surprises me with Bill,” Edelman said. “You look at the history. Logan Mankins was let go; Lawyer Milloy, (Richard) Seymour, like it doesn’t surprise me.
“I think the kid came out, and he did well. He did very well. You could see in his eyes, you could see in his reads that he felt comfortable in the pocket. He was looking at the right areas, intentionally watching these play calls and how he was handling them. He ran the no-huddle very well.”
Edelman does not necessarily cling to the notion that Jones solely won this quarterback duel by outperforming Newton by a mile, but rather that with the Patriots' mindset, the future is now.
“The ceiling is so high,” Edelman said. “They spent a 15 overall pick on the kid. They’re going to go with him. It didn’t surprise me.
“It’s terrible for Cam. I feel bad for him. But with that whole situation, I don’t think they wanted the distraction. I think they wanted him to — give him his rein to go out and try to get on another team. But like I said, that’s not a very surprising act by the Patriots, as you know.”
Jones is set to make his debut with the Patriots in their upcoming Week 1 opener where the rookie will be in for a quarterback duel against former Alabama Crimson Tide teammate and current Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
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