No. I don't believe so. I actually think it could be worse for a few reasons. First, teams now have 15 games of film on Newton as a Patriot. I think the decline that showed the second half of last season was due to defenses catching on to our offensive approach and taking away the run. Second, he was plain awful from the pocket. He had no short game, he had no long game. His mechanics were awful on top. His feet were always shuffling. This led to the dirt balls and high balls. Some of this was due to his foot bothering him I think and his shoulder. Given that, I have little faith his body will hold up for 17 games. Third, Newton admitted that the offense was too difficult for him to learn. He said there was too much going on his head for him to be able to make the right read when the ball was snapped. He also had no sense of pressure either even when the pressure was coming off of his right side, his sight side as opposed to his blind side.
Bill resigning him is as head scratching to me as him benching Butler in the SB, maybe moreso. A case can be made that he was one of Bill's worst FA signings. As bad as that is, it happens as sometimes FAs bust BUT what makes Newton unique is Bill resigned him for more money than he paid him last year. It is absurd to me on every level imaginable that as of May 17, he is our unquestioned starter.
I have little hope for this season to be any better than last year as long as Newton is our starter. The improvements were not nearly enough IMO to make our offensive what it needs to be for us to be a true playoff contender. And on top, I have little hope that Jones will play at all as a rookie because our offense is complex and Bill is a tough coach and the learning curve will just be too big. That being said, my biggest hope is that Jones blows everyone away in TC forcing Bill to have to start him at some point in the season. I think that might be pie in the sky but that is what I want to desperately happen otherwise we are looking at another middling season.