Mac Jones won't start for Patriots unless Cam Newton gets injured?

Bill Belichick has reiterated time and time again that Cam Newton will be the New England Patriots' starting quarterback this season. However, fans aren't convinced, and they believe there are still questions surrounding the quarterback position. 

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport made it quite clear during an appearance on WEEI's "The Greg Hill Show" Wednesday that rookie signal-caller Mac Jones will not start for the Patriots in 2021 unless Newton suffers an injury.

"Cam is where is is in his career. He's obviously a veteran. He's been injured some. He's missed some time. Physically, he's not what he was," Rapoport said. "I would say just based on that there's a pretty good chance Mac Jones plays at some point this year. But, straight up beating Cam out, I just think it's hard in practice. To me, he's either going to beat Cam out in training camp, which is a little bit of a long-shot, but maybe not the craziest thing in the world. Or, it will be an injury.

"The Patriots are not going to be bad. They are actually a really, really talented team. With mediocre quarterback play they are going to be at least average, probably better. I just don't see a point maybe mid-year where they go, 'OK, Mac Jones is so much better in practice, we now have to play him.' To me, it's probably an injury and then when he gets in he will either play really well or he won't, and he'll be ready for he won't. That's sort of my [take] on that."

Belichick said earlier this week that Newton is "way ahead of where he was last year at this time," so it certainly sounds like the Patriots head coach is willing to roll with the former MVP under center in 2021. 

However, reporters also said this week that Jones was the best quarterback on the field during a practice earlier this week, so there's reason to believe he could end up starting games this season if Newton struggles as badly as he did in 2020.

The Patriots also have Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer on the roster, but it seems more likely that Newton and Jones will be the ones vying for the starting spot.