Cam Newton and Panthers Part Ways

What’s fortunate about the NFL in the time we are in right now is that the season is not in process, but the off-season is, which means transactions between players and teams can still be made. The Carolina Panthers have done much since the regular season ended, attempting to rebuild a team that can take them one step closer than they were in 2015. A step they took toward this goal was releasing their franchise quarterback Cam Newton.

Newton was released on Tuesday, March 24th, but you can really you can say the Panthers moved on while before that. Looking through Carolina’s eyes they thought it was time to clean house and start from the beginning, and with that thought came the replacing of their nine-year head coach and quarterback duo, Ron Rivera and Newton. Rivera’s departure was early, before the regular season even ended, showing that the team wanted to make changes as quickly as possible.

Newton was drafted in 2011 as the number one overall pick and quickly became a fan favorite in Carolina, being nicknamed Superman with his unorthodox way of playing quarterback. Newton’s great ability to run with the football made him stand out as an NFL quarterback, and as his arm talent began to grow he was looking more and more like an all-pro quarterback.

The Carolina Panthers were able to grow as a pretty good football team around Newton, and in the 2015 NFL season, what was put on display was one of the best NFL teams formed of the 2010 decade. Newton and the Panthers ended with a record of 15-1 and showed the same intensity in playoffs to make it to Super Bowl L(50). In the Super Bowl, the Panthers would lose to the eventual champion Broncos and a retiring Peyton Manning. After this game, nothing was the same for Newton and the Carolina Panthers. Since that season the Panthers record in regular-season games have been 29-35, which is six games under .500, and they’ve had one playoff appearance where they exited immediately in the wild card round. For Newton Personally, he has dealt with numerous injuries such as a concussion and rotator cuff injury in 2016, another shoulder injury in 2018, and a foot injury in 2019. The Panthers, and surely other NFL teams, are taking note of these events that could have taken away Newton’s superhero-like skill.

Earlier in the off-season, the Panthers signed quarterback Teddy Bridgewater from the Saints, which pointed to the inevitable outcome that Newton would be on his way out of the door. Being that there are many teams that still look at Newton as a star quarterback, it is a high chance that he will get another shot at being the starting QB in a different uniform. The Chargers are now looking for a quarterback now that Phillip Rivers is gone, and so is the patriots because of Tom Brady’s exit. Teams where Newton can compete for the starting job according to NFL analyst Kurt Warner were the Jaguars or the Broncos. I believe going to the Redskins with his former head coach is also a possibility. Cam Newton’s journey is far from over, and there is some untapped potential that he waiting to share with his next team.