{"id":18375,"date":"2020-06-29T12:00:46","date_gmt":"2020-06-29T16:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/?p=18375"},"modified":"2020-07-20T14:00:36","modified_gmt":"2020-07-20T18:00:36","slug":"2020-nfl-free-agency-signing-trade-analysis-breaking-down-all-major-moves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sharpfootballanalysis.com\/analysis\/2020-nfl-free-agency-signing-trade-analysis-breaking-down-all-major-moves\/","title":{"rendered":"2020 NFL Free Agency & Trade Analysis: Breaking Down All The Major Moves"},"content":{"rendered":"

NFL free agency is officially here. As deals roll in, we'll be breaking them down here as this page will be updated with analysis for all the major moves. There won't be any grades here, but you'll get some context as to why deals were made and why they do or don't make sense.<\/p>\n

Keep checking back as deals continue to come through and don't miss Rich Hribar's fantasy fallout posts elsewhere on the site, which dive into the fantasy implications of these moves.<\/p>\n\t\t\t

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Cam Newton To The Patriots Is A Sensible Steal<\/span><\/h2>\n

Reported deal: One-year, up to $7.5 million<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Cam Newton<\/b> and the New England Patriots always made sense together. This late in June, it was one of the few places Newton would be able to grab a starting job and the Patriots, despite their public affection, couldn\u2019t go into the season with <\/span>Jarrett Stidham <\/b>at quarterback.<\/span><\/p>\n

In terms of on-field play, Newton lasted this long in free agency because of injury issues that plagued him over the past few seasons. There was a shoulder injury that sapped any effectiveness in his deep ball in 2018 and a mistreated foot injury that forced the quarterback to change his mechanics and never look comfortable in the few games he played in 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

By all accounts, Newton is recovered and healthy and that\u2019s potentially great news for all involved. The contract is such that incentives will bump it up to $7.5 million if all are reached and if that\u2019s the case, Newton had a pretty great season. All of that money won\u2019t count on New England\u2019s 2020 cap, either. Most incentives will go to the 2021 cap when the Patriots are likely to have more freed up cap space (pending what the cap looks like next season).<\/span><\/p>\n

Rich Hribar broke down the fantasy football impact of Newton signing with the Patriots<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

We haven\u2019t seen a completely healthy Newton in some time, but even the quarterback on the field during the 2018 season was quite effective. Take a look at Newton\u2019s completion percentage by depth from the 2018 season and you can see where the shoulder injury impacted his play:<\/span><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s a steep decline once the ball traveled 20 yards, but Newton was effective in the short and intermediate areas. On throws from 1-19 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, Newton was sixth in yards per attempt (8.2) among 38 quarterbacks with at least 100 attempts, per SIS. He was 14th in completion percentage and 15th in on-target percentage on those throws and while those ranking aren\u2019t as high, they show there was a process in finding open receivers that could create bigger gains on the throws that were completed. He was 15th in EPA on those attempts and 10th in positive play rate (rate of positive EPA plays).<\/span><\/p>\n

On those deep passes, Newton didn\u2019t always know where the ball was going to go (there are many attempts on film that fly well beyond the intended target), but there were still flashes of a quarterback who could make plays happen. The biggest issues came when Newton needed to put arc on his passes, but could still make throws on a line. Take the below play from Week 14 (Newton\u2019s second to last game of the season) against the Cleveland Browns. Newton was able to step up in the pocket and fire a strike 25 yards down the field to <\/span>Curtis Samuel<\/b>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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