Will Cam Newton and Mac Jones Split Reps 50/50 Early in Patriots Camp?
originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston  Download our mobile app for iOS or Android to get alerts for local breaking news and weather. In about a month, the Patriots will take the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium for training camp. And it's unclear how Bill Belichick will treat the most important position on his roster. We're in uncharted territory here to some degree. Belichick had two unquestioned starting quarterbacks in camp in his first 20 years with the Patriots. Then in 2020 he ran into a pandemic-shortened offseason with nothing but uncertainty at the position. | Listen & Follow | Watch on YouTube  Now, yes, there remains plenty of quarterback uncertainty. But Belichick has a first-round pick on the roster in Mac Jones. He has a big-name veteran with a year of experience in the Patriots offense in Cam Newton. And he has time. Tom E. Curran is joined by Phil Perry for Episode 1 of the process of unveiling his 2021 version of the "Top 50 Patriots of the Bill Belichick Era." Curran first produced this list in 2015, but with all that has happened since, he is re-doing this list this summer. Tom and Phil look at which players could fall out of the Top 50, which move up, move back, and some hints on newcomers that didn't make 6 years ago. He has to do it in relatively short order. This can't drag on until late August. He admitted as much last summer. When asked back on August 19 whether he could continue splitting work between Newton, Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer, Belichick acknowledged that at some point you have to get one player ready to play Week 1 of the regular season. "Well, obviously, theres some point where thats going to happen," Belichick said. "But, right now, we want to try to... give everybody an opportunity to get the basics, and were really doing that at all the positions. "I mean, everybodys rotating through and were trying to give everybody an opportunity to run the basic plays, get the basic fundamentals down. Yeah, of course at some point well have to not equalize the reps. I mean, thats obvious. But were not there now." To that point in camp, through the first three practices, the snaps had been split relatively evenly between Newton, Stidham and Hoyer. A day later, thanks in part to a lower-body injury Stidham sustained, the Patriots had apparently settled on their guy. Newton made nearly three times the number of competitive throws (17) Stidham did (6) in 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 periods. Newton took the lion's share of the reps the rest of the way, and that was it. The quarterback competition never heated back up. He has long been consistent in his description of spring practices as a learning camp whereas training camp is a "competition camp." If jobs really aren't on the line until the team reports in late July, one would think Belichick would have to start his quarterbacks on somewhat equal footing. That'd be a reasonable expectation early on. But it would behoove the Patriots to make a call one way or the other as soon as possible. While practice reps may not be quite the rare gems they were a season ago, they remain valuable. There are only so many. And both quarterbacks in the running need as much experience behind center in the Patriots offense as they can get. It was noteworthy that Jones saw as many reps as he did in minicamp. He and Newton saw essentially the same workload, while Jones received the bulk of the work on Day 2 of the three-day session. And though Newton was consistently the first quarterback out for drills, Jones saw some time with players who'd be considered starters. That laid the groundwork for what should be a legitimate competition from the beginning of camp. The reps might not be 50/50 between Newton and Jones thanks to Stidham getting a piece of the pie, but the competition will be on. Prediction: By the end of the second preseason game, Aug. 19 against the Eagles, it'll be over. Not only will the Patriots have two exhibition games to assess, they may also have had a set of joint practices by then. And even if it's not announced, the Patriots will make their quarterback choice pretty clear by how they divvy up practice reps. By then they'll be left with an opportunity for a "dress-rehearsal" preseason game against the Giants and a full three weeks of practices to plan around one starting quarterback. Have to do it eventually. And unless it's a blowout one way or the other, with either Jones or Newton making themselves the slam-dunk choice even earlier in camp, that point in the summer makes as much sense as any.