On Monday, Skip Bayless called Cam Newton the “perfect possible replacement” for Tom Brady and suggested the Patriots could go 9-7 this season after reportedly agreeing to a one-year contract with the 2015 NFL MVP.
On Tuesday, after looking at New England’s schedule, the FS1 talking head changed his tune.
Bayless now believes it’ll be a struggle for the Patriots to post a .500 record in 2020 despite the addition of Newton, who presumably will compete with Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer for New England’s starting quarterback job.
“The No. 1 most difficult schedule belongs to Cam Newton’s new team,” Bayless said on Tuesday’s episode of “Undisputed.” “So, I start looking at the schedule (Monday night) and I dare you to look at it right now and show me eight wins. Because I’m having a hard time finding eight wins on this schedule.
” … It will be a minor miracle if (Newton) can win nine games and lift this team into the playoffs,” Bayless added. “A minor miracle. If he does that, he will be right in the thick of the MVP race because that’s how mediocre the rest of this roster still remains.”
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The #1 most difficult schedule in all of football belongs to Cam Newton’s new team. I dare you to look at this schedule and show me 8 wins. More @Undisputed, now on FS1 https://t.co/eQtX6Z14ZR
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) June 30, 2020
Bayless initially said the Patriots would have gone 4-12 with Stidham as their starting quarterback, so his expectations for New England still are higher with Newton under center. But it’s clear Bayless got carried away in the immediate aftermath of the Newton news, forcing him to backtrack to some extent just one day later.
Now, the question becomes: Is Bayless selling New England short? Whatever the case, he fully expects Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to have a better season than Bill Belichick and the Patriots.
