'You have to rely on the market': Trump shoots down 'equitable pay' argument for women's sports



President Donald Trump discredited the idea that women should be paid the same as men in sports, particularly in reference to the WNBA, where he said contracts were already in place.

During an interview on the "Let's Go!" podcast with hosts Jim Gray and legendary NFL coach Bill Belichick, Trump was asked about "equitable pay" in women's sports.

"Should there be more support, or supportive measures, to ensure equitable pay across sports?" Gray asked, before referring to WNBA star Caitlin Clark.

"You'd like to do that, but it's a very complicated thing," Trump replied, calling Clark a "phenomenon" in her sport.

While the former president compared Clark to Tiger Woods, he said he's seen new stars get locked into entry-level contracts many times and play them out until they get rewarded.

"It sounds unfair, but somebody agrees to a contract. Hopefully she'll keep it going and she'll make a lot of money," he continued.

"Maybe you could give her a bonus," Trump suggested for Clark.

Host Gray then referred to Clark's massive television ratings, which eclipsed typical NBA viewership many times throughout 2024.

"You have to rely on the market," Trump rebuffed. "You can't just say 'we'll break this contract because this person did well.'"

— (@)

Coach Belichick pushed Trump for his opinion on name, image, and likeness payments for NCAA athletes and wondered if there is a way to strike a balance between profit and willingness to play.

Trump responded by saying he was "surprised that the governing body didn't appeal" NIL payments more vehemently.

"I don't know that they appealed it at all," Trump laughed.

"Will college sports, as we know it, look the same in the next five to 10 years?" Belichick then asked.

"No, not really. ... It's not going to be the same," Trump predicted.

"You'll probably have some schools go to the top," he added, noting some of the more "wealthy schools" will likely do very well.

Trump went to say that inevitably the NCAA could act as a different professional sports league, with "some very rich athletes."

Read more about NIL payments in this Blaze News original..

Former President Donald Trump described the NFL's new Guardian Caps as "weird."Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images

Still talking about football, the Republican commented on Guardian Caps, the exterior padding the NFL has allowed on players' helmets in the 2024 season.

"That thing looks weird!" Trump remarked, laughing with the hosts. He said he wasn't sure about the preventive aspects of the equipment, pointing out that there are still violent clashes between players.

"[It's] still a very violent game," he continued. "That's why people watch it. It's pretty risky, but you don't have to let your child play."

Trump also expressed disdain for the NFL's new kickoff rules, while adding that middle-class Americans are being "priced out" of sporting events.

"A fan will buy one ticket, for one game, sometimes a nothing game, and that's all they can afford," Trump claimed.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Bill Belichick talks taxes and why athletes are flocking from Massachusetts



Bill Belichick, former New England Patriots head coach and one of the most decorated coaches in the history of the NFL, is talking taxes.

According to legend, a Massachusetts law is discouraging star football players from signing with the New England Patriots.

“It’s Taxachusetts,” he jested. “Even the minimum players are pretty close to a million dollars, and so once you hit that million-dollar threshold, then you pay more state tax in Massachusetts.”

Rob Eno, BlazeTV Media Critic and a Massachusetts native, joins Jill Savage and the “Blaze News Tonight” panel to explain why athletes may be financially incentivized to sign with teams from states with more sensible tax codes and “why football is affected more than other professional sports.”

- YouTube www.youtube.com

“In November 2022, the citizens of Massachusetts actually voted to get rid of the Constitutional amendment that said they can't have a progressive income tax,” Eno explained, adding that instead, citizens opted to “have a one tax rate flat rate of 5%” as well as “a millionaire surtax of 4%.”

He points to NBA forward Grant Williams as an example of why athletes are flocking away from Massachusetts.

Williams, who played four seasons with the Boston Celtics, compared a Massachusetts’ salary of “$48 million with the millionaire’s tax” to the Dallas, Texas, equivalent of “$54 million.”

“There's this jock tax. ... Even if you live in Dallas, you're going to pay California taxes or Boston taxes for the day games that you do there, but if you live in Massachusetts or if you work for the Boston Celtics or you work for the New England Patriots and you come to Dallas, you're still going to pay that Massachusetts tax rate because that's the state where you're earning the money,” Eno explains.

The millionaire’s tax isn’t just hurting athletes though.

“The CPAs in Boston ... that deal with high-net-worth individuals have said that they have at least one client that's looking to leave. ... The owner of the Boston Celtics is making plans to leave” due to an “estate tax in Massachusetts,” Eno reports.

“Is this actually hurting the [Patriot’s] roster?” asks Jill.

“I think it’s actually hurting the roster, and I think that all of the teams are seeing this,” says Eno. “Major League Baseball and the [NBA], there’s luxury taxes,” but “in football, you can’t do that.”

“[Belichick] is actually making a political statement,” says Blaze Media’s editor in chief Matthew Peterson.

To hear more of the conversation, watch the clip above.

The ONLY Brady-Belichick debate you need to watch



Bill Belichick and Tom Brady made the Patriots the Patriots.

The former star quarterback and famed coach oversaw countless wins and stadiums packed with obsessed and adoring fans — but one of the two was more responsible for their unbelievable success.

“I always thought Belichick, no question,” Jason Whitlock says.

“I’m now sitting here going, that culture that was so important to them, it can’t happen without Tom Brady.”

According to Whitlock, Brady “set the tone for that culture,” and it no longer exists without him.

While Belichick is considered the best coach of all time by football fans everywhere, Brady’s assistance was vital to his success.

“It kind of hammers the point of, again, like damn, the players actually do win the games,” Whitlock continues.

Former NFL quarterback Brett Favre believes they both play a massive part.

“I think the combination,” he tells Whitlock, before noting that if your star player refuses to listen, it will be a lot harder to get his teammates to listen as well.

While Favre thought it was both, Marshall Faulk thinks it’s one: Brady.

“It’s Brady,” Faulk says, adding that “in the beginning it was Belichick.”

“Brady allowed Bill to be Bill, and at some point in time, your quarterback gets to a level to where the coach then gives the quarterback the autonomy to kind of have access to the team,” Faulk explains.

Brian Urlacher is in agreement.

“For me it’s easy, it’s Brady,” Urlacher says. “I played for a great head coach in Chicago,” he continues. “We didn’t win a Super Bowl. We got there and lost because we didn’t have the quarterback, we didn’t have that piece to our puzzle.”


Want more from Jason Whitlock?

To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Brian Flores’ Lawsuit Against The NFL Will Only Damage Black Head Coaches

Flores’ unfounded accusations against the NFL of ‘systemic racism’ will set back the relationship between owners and black coaching talent.

Steve Kim: Bill Belichick and the Patriots are starting to party like it’s 2001



Guess what: Bill Belichick can still coach his ass off.

After their third consecutive victory, a 24-6 romp over the struggling Carolina Panthers, the New England Patriots now stand at 5-4. On Sunday they made Sam Darnold look like he still played for the Jets. Darnold tossed three interceptions.

New England consistently seemed one step ahead of the Panthers on defense and did just enough on offense to control the game. Using a conservative game plan based around their trio of running backs Rhamondre Stevenson, Brandon Bolden, and Damien Harris, the Patriots didn't ask quarterback Mac Jones to do too much.

It looked a lot like the early Brady-Belichick years, when the Patriots relied on a stingy defense and a quarterback who managed the game.

Last year in the midst of the divorce from the iconic Tom Brady, the franchise suffered through a 7-9 season, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2008. Meanwhile, Brady lifted his seventh Lombardi Trophy in Tampa Bay.

This divorce seemed as one-sided as that of Jeff Bezos.

It was believed that Brady was the overwhelming winner in this high-profile parting of ways. Belichick was exposed as nothing more than the beneficiary of an all-time great behind center. What people forgot is that Belichick is one of the most adroit football minds the game has ever seen.

There were many people who may not have wanted to admit it, but they yearned for Belichick to fail miserably. To them, he was a curmudgeon. He didn't play nice with the media, and others didn't agree with his political leanings.

This year's Patriots were expected to struggle again, but at 5-4 they are now just half a game behind the Buffalo Bills in the AFC East. Three of their four losses have come by a combined nine points. Strangely enough, they have suffered all their losses at home, but are now 4-0 on the road. They are a team surging in confidence and getting better each week.

Yeah, I know, Belichick is an easy guy to hate. He's not a warm-and-fuzzy guy. What really grinds the gears of those who aren't Patriots fans is that he really doesn't seem to care. He's about football and really nothing else. Belichick is cold, calculating, and at times seemingly heartless — ask Stephon Gilmore, and before him, Lawyer Milloy and Richard Seymour.

Belichick wouldn't have hesitated to shoot Old Yeller.

Don't expect Belichick to say too many good things about his current squad. "The Patriot Way" is about doing your job (well) and then doing it again the following week. This just feels like the quintessential Belichick team.

As he would say, they're on to Cleveland.
Cam Newton says he's vaccinated and people need to stop judging others: 'Do what's right for you'

Cam Newton says he's vaccinated and people need to stop judging others: 'Do what's right for you'



NFL free agent quarterback Cam Newton spoke out against what he called a "judgement realm" surrounding the issue of COVID-19 vaccines, urging people to make their own decisions according to what they believe is in their best interests.

"You have to do what's right for you," Newton, 32, said in a video posted Sunday on his YouTube channel. He said that judging another person based on their vaccination status is "not going to get us nowhere but angry at each other."

"Whether a person gets vaccinated or not, in my honest opinion, that's a personal decision and I think it should be respected as such," he said, before announcing that after his initial reluctance to get the shot, he talked to his doctor and got vaccinated so he can play football again.

"I got my vaccination card. I want to play football. And stop damn judging people if they do or if they don't got the vaccination," he said.

Newton, a former MVP, played in 15 games with the New England Patriots last year. Before the 2021 season began, was released by the team, which is starting rookie Mac Jones, after missing three practices because of a "misunderstanding" of COVID-19 protocols. Coach Bill Belichick denied that Newton's vaccination status was a factor in the decision to release the quarterback.

In Sunday's video, Newton said that while he was playing for the New England Patriots, he decided not to get vaccinated against COVID-19 because of his concerns with possible side effects. He repeatedly said that people need to do what's best for them when it comes to vaccination, and that whatever they choose, they should not be judged for their decision.

"Some people are in a position where they deem for religious purposes or personal reasons that it's not beneficial for them, and that's not to say that they're living careless, that they're living in this barbaric manner to bring harm to other people, because there's people who are vaccinated that still could potentially catch COVID!" said Newton.

"One thing I do know, as long as there are two people left on this earth there will always be differences. And I'll I'm trying to say is, it's still a personal decision," he added.

Now that he's vaccinated, Newton says he's been contacted by multiple NFL teams about a spot on their rosters but the right opportunity hasn't yet come around.

"I still get that urge to go out and perform and do something that I've been doing since I was 7-years-old," Newton said. "But also, it's like, man, I'm so much more than just a football player. Respect me as such."

The decision about which offer to accept, just like the decision to get vaccinated, is a choice Newton says he will make according to what he thinks is best.

"It's all apart of the melting pot of do what's best for you and do not allow nobody else to make you think anything different, whether you get the shot or don't, just stay healthy.

"And I think, if you can get that through your thick head and your thick skull, we all will be alright."

Couch: Tom Brady continues to demonstrate Bill Belichick was more impediment than launching pad



There is no charm about Tom Brady the way there is in most Old Guy versus Father Time stories.

Phil Mickelson was washed up at 50 before finding magic this spring to win the PGA Championship. Something just felt good about that. You felt your personal glory might still be reachable again at the right time and place with the right work and circumstance. By the time the U.S. Open came, Mickelson was washed up again, surely forever. His moment lives, though.

Through seven Super Bowl titles, I've never been inspired by Brady. Not even last year. Amazed, yes. But not inspired until Thursday night, with 1:24 left in the Tampa Bay-Dallas game in the NFL season opener. Brady and Tampa had the ball at their 25, trailing 29-28.

And you knew one thing for sure: The game was over. Brady was never going to fail. Forty-four years old didn't matter. Eighty-four seconds left and one timeout didn't matter. His age might amaze us, but to him that's not even a consideration. Brady didn't need magic for another moment because he's not living a moment.

The point of Tom Brady is clear now and particularly important today: It's that limitations and other people don't define who you are. Circumstances like age don't define you. Check your inevitabilities at the door.

Brady is no fluke. He's not finding old magic or a spark. He just is. And when he got out from under the thumb of Bill Belichick authoritatively telling him how things had to be done, how to think, how to face being past his time, Brady went to Tampa Bay and got better. That's because he was himself.

"It's nice that I've found my voice more," he said recently. "I really enjoy being around my teammates, my coaches. It's been a different environment, just really enjoying the experience of playing football, playing with a group of guys."

After a year and a half of COVID, we've had our fill of circumstances dictating. We've had enough of the media — social or traditional — or political parties telling us what to think or do. That's why there is so much rage out there now.

It's why you can't find an Uber any more, because there aren't enough people willing to drive one. It's why employers can't find workers. People don't want to be defined by limitations any more. So they're just not taking the jobs they don't want.

Brady is the poster child for that. A few years ago, when he was still in New England with Belichick, I thought it was time for him to retire. A lot of people did. He was starting to fail. Belichick's dynasty needed a new cog at quarterback because Brady was getting too old.

Brady knew that age wasn't his limitation. Belichick was.

And when Brady won the Super Bowl last year in Tampa while Belichick failed in New England, that changed the picture of Belichick. For so long, Belichick was a genius on every coaching Mount Rushmore, and as long as you did what he said, you would win. Brady knew better.

Former New England cornerback Asante Samuel tweeted recently about Belichick, saying, "...without Brady he is just another coach in my opinion."

A trend has come up this year with athletes talking about their mental health. Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka. Just this week, women's national team soccer player Christen Press announced on social media, "I've made the difficult decision to take a couple of months away from the game to focus on my mental health."

Without using those words, that's what Brady did last year.

It was fun sport last year watching Brady win and Belichick lose and talking about who was winning their divorce. That was just about celebrity bickering.

It seems bigger now. Belichick has rebuilt his offensive line and now has the guy who is supposed to be the new Brady, rookie first-round draft pick Mac Jones, at quarterback.

The idea isn't that Jones is the greatest talent, but instead that he can be a perfect cog in Belichick's machine. If there was any doubt, Brady proved last year that he was never a cog in the first place. He made Belichick look human.

We've seen old athletes come back for greatness. George Foreman won the heavyweight title way past his prime and Jack Nicklaus won the Masters.

Those guys were different from Brady. He isn't finding old talents one last time. He is doing things his way, not Belichick's. That game-winning drive Thursday night was no surprise. Brady won't go away any time soon, either.

Couch: Cam Newton, unvaccinated players should focus their ire on NFL players’ union



I can save the NFL Players Association a lot of time in its investigation into Urban Meyer and his comments that he factored players' COVID vaccination status into his final player cuts.

The NFLPA sounded awfully strong and indignant. But here is my three-part advice to the NFLPA on how to get its investigation done in mere seconds:

Look in a mirror.
Point.
Say "Guilty."
Investigation over.

The NFLPA created this mess. At the very least, it could have stopped it. And now it claims to want to know whether teams across the NFL were dumping players for not having taken the jab? Well, they were. All of them were.

"Everyone was considered," said Meyer, coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. "That was part of it — production, let's start talking about this. And also is he vaccinated or not? Can I say that that was a decision-maker? It was certainly in consideration."

Meyer is new to the NFL and hasn't yet grasped the concept of going along and getting along. So he keeps doing things such as trying out Tim Tebow at tight end when there might be hundreds of union dues-paying failed tight ends who would've liked the chance.

If the NFLPA is upset with Meyer, it's only because he didn't offer the savvy that New England coach Bill Belichick did when he was asked if Cam Newton's vaccination status played a role in his release.

"No," Belichick fibbed.

Of course it did.

The league's protocols are much more stringent for players who haven't been vaccinated than for those who have.

For one, unvaccinated players have to be tested at a team site every day. Vaccinated players have to be tested just once a week. There are all sorts of protocols like that, including that unvaccinated players are more likely to have to skip playing time or be put on the COVID list and made to sit out.

That makes unvaccinated players worth less than vaccinated ones.

The NFL wanted these rules, but the league is in this for the league's best interest. It is a PR benefit to be proactive on COVID, and also owners have legit concerns about losing players to COVID. Lose too many and you can't play a game, or maybe can't make the playoffs. If you can't play because too many unvaccinated players get COVID, then your team might forfeit. If it's because vaccinated players get it? The game is likely rescheduled.

But the NFLPA is there to represent the players, not the league's interests. Yet the NFLPA went along with the NFL's suggested rules and protocols.

Without data, I'd say it's safe to guess that at least 50% of the players didn't want the vaccine. In agreeing to the NFL's plan, the NFLPA set up a lower class of NFL citizens.

It's hard to know what the NFLPA and executive director DeMaurice Smith stand for. A union is supposed to stand firmly against a strong-arming boss. Personally, I like the NFL's COVID rules because the players retain their rights while being pressured into getting the jab.

But I can't see any way possible that a union would like this.

Is the NFLPA trying to get everyone vaccinated? I don't think so, as it rejected that plan from the NFL. Is it trying to say that it knows better than the players about COVID? How are the players' desires reflected?

Coaches would have to consider vaccination status. If a vaccinated player is found to have COVID, he'd be subjected to less time away than an unvaccinated one.

Coaches are just trying to win football games. That requires as much continuity and reliability as possible.

The Jaguars tried to clean up Meyer's mess by denying that vaccination status was a factor. Then they winked and said it was.

"Availability is one of the many factors taken into account when making roster decisions."

Yes, and vaccinated players have much more availability than unvaccinated ones. Cam Newton had to sit out from the Patriots for five days because he got his test at the wrong place. Had he been vaccinated, he wouldn't have needed a daily test and presumably would have been available.

No matter how the Jaguars phrase it, one plus one still equals two.

Vaccination is considered, like experience or speed, or whether a player is injury-prone.

"I would just point out that I don't know what the number is — you guys can look it up, you have the access to a lot of information — but the number of players, coaches, and staff members that have been infected by COVID in this training camp who have been vaccinated is a pretty high number," Belichick said. "So I wouldn't lose sight of that."

Well, ESPN reported that the league's numbers say 68 of 7,190 tests among players and staff were positive in the first three weeks of August. And the rate of positive tests among the unvaccinated was seven times higher than among the vaccinated.

But this isn't an argument about the vaccine. It's about the extra time on what's basically a COVID injury list that an unvaccinated player is subject to.

Even an anti-vaxxer coach would have to consider that.

A team might overlook that to keep a star player. But the players fighting for a roster spot at all, the ones who need their union's help the most?

They're the ones most likely to lose their jobs. The NFLPA made sure of that.

Whitlock: Bill Belichick is anti-vax-mandate, and I love it



Based on his comments Wednesday morning, it's fair to conclude Bill Belichick is no fan of the NFL's nonsensical and highly divisive COVID protocols.

The Patriots' head coach started his day meeting with the media. For about 10 minutes, reporters probed football's greatest coach for insight into the reasoning that caused the team to cut starting quarterback Cam Newton. Belichick provided no such insight. He dodged every direct question concerning Cam and pivoted to offering not-so-subtle gripes about the league's convoluted and authoritarian COVID protocols.

When asked if Cam's unvaccinated status contributed to his departure, here's how Belichick responded:

"No. Look, you guys keep talking about that. I would just point out that I don't know what the number is — you guys can look it up, you have the access to a lot of information — but the number of players, coaches, and staff members that have been infected by COVID in this training camp who have been vaccinated is a pretty high number. So I wouldn't lose sight of that."

Later in the press conference, a reporter asked a second question regarding Cam's vaccination status and the impact of Cam missing practice because of the league's COVID protocols.

"No, we have other players on the team who are not vaccinated, as I would say probably every other team in the league," Belichick said. "And we've had minimal, but throughout the league there've been a number of, quite a high number I would say, of players who have had the virus who have been vaccinated.

"So your implication that the vaccination solves every problem, I would say that has not been substantiated, based on what has transpired in training camp this year. That's all."

Let's be clear. The reporter did not imply anything. Belichick knows this. He knows the NFL and the NFLPA have implied that the vaccine solves every problem. He knows that's not true. He knows the NFL isn't forcing the vaccine on its players out of concern for their safety. The league is doing it to appease critics of football. They're doing it to align with the Big Tech social media overlords.

The NFL knows that if it doesn't bully its players into taking the vaccine, corporate media will double and triple down on their assault on football. Roger Goodell and the league office have spent the past decade trying to make peace with their enemies through appeasement.

Who is the NFL's enemy? The political left, the people determined to tear down the patriarchy, the feminists who labeled masculinity toxic, the alleged journalists who have distorted football's concussion issue, the woke warriors who want to end football.

It's all connected. Goodell thinks fighting for football means making peace with people who hate football. It's not going to happen. Last year, the NFL bowed to the Black Lives Matter mob. The league draped itself in Marxist ideology and utopian slogans.

This year it's embracing pandemic panic. Forcing young men in relatively perfect health to inject an experimental drug is ludicrous. The NFL played an entire season a year ago with no one vaccinated. Did one NFL player die? Did any NFL player get hospitalized during the season with COVID?

These players are not all stupid sheep. They know the COVID survival rate. They know older, fat, unhealthy people are the people who should be taking extra precautions. They know the NFL has no business getting this deep into their medical decisions.

So does Bill Belichick. A reporter asked him to cite the number of unvaccinated Patriot players.

"I'm not going to get into that," he said. "Those are all personal decisions. And it's not my place to talk about a person's decision or medical condition."

What's going on in the NFL is a joke. It not only violates the players' personal rights, it violates the unifying tenets of team sports. Vaccinated and unvaccinated players are being treated differently in things as small as where they can eat in team facilities and what they can eat at the team facility. Unvaccinated players have to report to the facility much earlier than unvaccinated players.

It's all stupid. It's all theater to appease the media.

Most of the vaccinated, including the coaches, took the vaccine under personal protest. You can't convince me a group of mostly 20-something men believe getting the vaccine is in their best interest.

The NFL is immersed in the same political theater as the rest of the country. Sports used to be a leader. Now our sports leagues are followers.

I'm as frustrated as Belichick.

Couch: Cam Newton’s NFL career is in jeopardy because he refused the vaccine?



If Cam Newton wanted to dab, he needed the jab.

Why did one of the all-time great quarterback talents and a former MVP find himself coldly dumped from the New England Patriots, and probably the league, in his prime just two days after promoting himself as QB1?

Here is my theory: Newton's career crashed and burned because he wouldn't get the COVID shot. Patriots coach Bill Belichick denied that on Wednesday, saying the vaccine wasn't a factor.

The evidence and timing suggest otherwise.

Players' vaccination status became a growing issue in the league as teams looked to make their final cuts. Jacksonville coach Urban Meyer said he did take players' status into consideration when making final cuts. He said that's because of the league's tougher protocols on unvaccinated players. The players' association told ESPN that Meyer's comments would lead to an investigation.

Belichick said that wasn't a factor in cutting Newton.

"No. Look, you guys keep talking about that. I would just point out that I don't know what the number is — you guys can look it up, you have the access to a lot of information — but the number of players, coaches, and staff members that have been infected by COVID in this training camp who have been vaccinated is a pretty high number. So I wouldn't lose sight of that."

Still, Newton's COVID misunderstanding, as the team put it when he botched a testing protocol and had to sit out five days, showed his lack of attention to detail. Belichick talks about putting team ahead of self-interest.

Newton didn't get the shot, and he's out. Rookie Mac Jones did, and he's the starter. That's no coincidence. A political statement from Belichick? No, it's a reliability demand.

The NFL is trying to bully players into getting the shot. Unable to get a mandate past the players' association, the league has put in protocols with big incentives and consequences. The NFL is making the unvaccinated feel like the great unwashed.

Meanwhile, around the league, players and coaches are out of commission and on the COVID list. It is disruptive to the mission of winning football games. If anything, Belichick stays focused only on that one thing.

The Tennessee Titans are without coach Mike Vrabel, and quarterback Ryan Tannehill is on the reserve/COVID-19 list. So is Indianapolis quarterback Carson Wentz. Several Buffalo Bills are out. Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson has had COVID twice, and the Ravens' whole season could come crashing down if he gets it again at the wrong time.

Newton has proved that he is a high risk, particularly at starting quarterback. Belichick likes to limit risks.

And so will other coaches, which is why it's hard to see why anyone else would take a chance on Newton. Quarterbacks looking for jobs during the season are going to need the vaccine on their resumes.

It is possible that Newton wanted out after Belichick told him Jones would be the starter. When Newton played for Tennessee, he once also opted out rather than being considered for a backup job. If that's the stance he's taking now — starter or nothing — then he is finished in the NFL.

After Newton was cut, ESPN analyst Louis Riddick, a longtime NFL journeyman, tweeted: "Bill does what Bill does. Right or wrong, the man is cold blooded and will do what he thinks he has to do. Period. #Patriots."

Former Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel responded with his own tweet: "Cold blooded is a understatement!"

Cold-blooded is not an insult in the NFL. Belichick has always relied on it.

In the second preseason game, against Philadelphia, Newton completed 8 of 9 passes for 103 yards and a touchdown. Talk was about how much he had improved since last year, when he signed a bargain contract and didn't have a camp to learn the system.

After the Philadelphia game, though, that's when Newton created more COVID distractions. The Patriots were calling it a "misunderstanding." Newton was knocked out of practices for nearly a week because he had failed to abide by a COVID protocol requiring unvaccinated players to test daily at the team facility. Newton left the facility for the test.

I think that was the end for Newton. Belichick said at the time that it improved Jones' chance to be the starter. Reports were that Belichick was upset that Newton was so reckless.

Last year, Newton contracted COVID, missed one game, and forced the NFL to move the Patriots' game with the Kansas City Chiefs to Monday night. According to the New York Times, the Patriots traveled in two planes, one for players who had been exposed to Newton and one for players who had not.

Newton is a mess that Belichick doesn't want to have to keep cleaning up.

Belichick still has to prove that he can win without Tom Brady. The team has rebuilt quickly and now has a strong offensive line and run game. It needs a quarterback who won't make mistakes.

Patriots fans already saw Jones, the first-round draft pick, as the next Brady, mostly because he doesn't have the incredible athletic skills that Newton does, but is reliable, consistent, and mistake-free.

No one would describe Newton as sure and steady. He is a large and muscular presence, a carefree personality and an inconsistent and inaccurate thrower.

On Sunday, he completed just 2 of 5 passes for 10 yards. He threw an interception when he failed to notice that linebacker Blake Martinez was covering New England receiver Jakobi Meyers. Newton should have lobbed a pass over Meyers' head and let him go get it.

It's all in the details.

"I'm going to be ready," Jones said, "whenever my time comes up."

If only Newton could have said the same.