On Thursday afternoon, reports out of Foxborough stated that New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick had informed the team earlier that day about his intentions at the quarterback position: Cam Newton would take the top spot on the depth chart heading into the season, leaving the other three passers — Jarrett Stidham, Brian Hoyer, Brian Lewerke — competing for the backup roles.
On Friday morning, however, Belichick was not willing to publicly call Newton the team’s new QB1. During a conference call with the media, he quickly rebuffed any reports indicating that such a decision has been made and communicated to the team.