For a guy with almost 30,000 passing yards in his career and an MVP award under his belt, Patriots quarterback Cam Newton has had a surprisingly inconsistent career. He has been a solid quarterback for a while and cracked that threshold in 2015 when he took the Panthers to the Super Bowl and went 15-1 in the regular season.

Most people thought that this was the start of a new era. Newton and his team were shaping up to be the next NFL dynasty. But the next season, this squad would only go 6-10, missing the playoffs the season after a historical year. They’d make the playoffs just once more during Newton’s time in North Carolina, but would get knocked out in the very first round.

Even though his numbers took a huge dip after his MVP season, he was slowly building his way back up to elite form before an injury to his foot and the essential collapse of Carolina for good. He’s fully recovered now, but the injury all but ended his playing career for the Panthers.

But just when his career was brought into question, he was signed by the Tom Brady-less New England Patriots. For a lot of fans, his ability to fit into the Patriots system was questionable, to say the least. Bill Belichick had been coaching Tom Brady, the least-mobile quarterback in the history of the NFL, for about two decades. Others saw this as an opportunity. The Carolina Panthers were never a bad organization, but there hasn’t been a team that has experienced more longevity than the Patriots.

This will give Cam Newton a second shot at his career and his performance will determine whether New England will continue to dominate or fall without Tom Brady taking snaps.