I do think BB likes Cam and I will tell you why. Newton played like hot garbage last year and BB absolutely refused to bench him even though most people even in Boston media were calling for it.
Who gives a flying **** what "most people in Boston media" are calling for ? You have absolute clowns like Volin, Bedard, Felger or Curran competing with each other with utterly idiotic takes that are just there to create ratings or social media engagement.
On the same note..
After an atrocious season, with the entire fan base ready to move on from Cam, he gives him another contract to bring him back
Who gives a fcuk what the entitled ****stain that is this fan base is asking for. Their opinion is irrelevant and null. As it should be.
The only time both the media and fans got to see Newton were camp (media) and Sundays. They have zero access to practice (outside the first 10-15min that are usually warmup) or any other team activities. There is absolutely no reason to think they have a better grasp on what is going on with the team or individual players than pro coaches who all have much more insight into football than all fans and most media bozos. Those coaches also get to spend every day watching players and their relative progress.
This entire narrative that fans think their opinion is informed because they watched a game from broadcast angles and now they can judge players is utter ********. Your opinion doesn't matter because most of us are walking examples of the Dunning-Kruger effect that don't even know what they don't know when it comes to the complex game of football.
Not only that, he also heaps praises at Cam's feet every chance he gets, despite the tremendously awful performances on the field.
So what ?
Maybe he is doing this because internally their evaluation based on practice performance is that we were not losing because of Cam.
Maybe he is cognizant of the fact that Cam got into a pretty difficult situation where he had to come into camp with only 2 weeks of prep time in terms of learning the offense; something that got more exacerbated during the regular season where he was still catching up on the fundamentals of our offense, watching film of opponents and going through the gameplan all at the same time. Every week.
Maybe he realizes that the 2 weeks of COVID break put him even farther behind.
Maybe he also is painfully aware that the pieces on offense were not up to standard in the last two years but there was nothing to be done because of the cap situation.
And guess what.. given the impression coaches and players have shown of Cam it is pretty likely he never complained, worked his ass off, took midgame benchings in stride, showed leadership on and off the field and kept grinding through what must have been pretty brutal lowlight Monday meetings.
Maybe this is why he went out of his way to praise a player who the media bozos and the garbage fanbase declared the new scapegoat.
Who knows.
I don't recall him even doing that for Brady, who won six superbowls.
You don't even have to go back a year... just watch how BB describes Tom in that NFL 100 shows they did right before Brady left. Hell, BB even called Tom iconic and went on about his leadership in the season ending press conference after we lost to the Titans in 2019. The idea that he never publicly praised Brady is just silly.
That being said when it comes to coaching then it is pretty likely that Tom needed a different type of approach than Cam does. Reportedly, Brady was coached hard and also appreciated that. It is a sign of a good teacher/coach if they have enough empathy to realize what approach will yield the best results for different human beings.
I don't live inside BB's head but from everything that I have seen or read, it does seem like the notion that BB likes Cam isn't some far fetched crazy idea.
I also don't think connecting his quote to Cam is that far fetched. If he says he only wants players he wants to coach, and he controls the roster, is it that crazy to think maybe he likes the guys that are on the team?
Apart from "do your job" I don't there is a more iconic BB saying than "we will do what's best for the football
team". We are talking about someone who has traded away locker room leaders -- players he as a coach most certainly liked -- in the middle of camp and went head to head with others like e.g. Wilfork during contract negotiations.
You have to separate BB the coach from BB the GM. I am sure he likes most of the players he has on the roster and the quote you keep coming back to refers much more to him not being interested in talented players that are assholes (and therefore potential locker room problems) than anything else.
The AB signing has shown that in the end even he himself has to show mental toughness and accept acquiring a potential ******* that go against your quote because in that situation -- with the offense not looking so hot despite a strong start in '19 -- that was best for the football team.
In summary I am sure he likes Cam but that doesn't mean he wouldn't move on from him if an opportunity would present itself to make the team substantially better. And that is also what this contract reflects.