Recapping what we know about the Cam Newton situation heading into the NFL Combine
There have been a lot of stories recently about Cam Newton. His name has come up on talk shows and his future in Carolina has been hotly debated.
With the NFL gathering in Indianapolis for the Combine this week, there will only be more rumors. With that in mind, here’s a quick refresher on what we know and what comes next.
What we know
Newton missed all but two regular-season games in 2019 due to a Lisfranc injury in his left foot he suffered during the team’s third preseason game, against the Patriots. He started the first two games of the regular season, both losses, but didn’t play again after deciding with the team that it made the most sense to try and get fully healthy following his experience with a shoulder injury. He has had two shoulder surgeries and it especially impacted him during the second half of the 2018 season.
The Panthers placed Newton on injured reserve Nov. 5 and he had surgery Dec. 9 after evaluating his options. The quarterback will be 31 years old when the 2020 season begins. Newton is entering the last year of his deal with the Panthers. The team would save $19.1 million by not having him on the roster and he would be a cap hit of $21.1 million if he is on the team.
Newton spoke publicly about wanting to return to Carolina on multiple occasions, including as recently as the week leading up to the Super Bowl.
“Absolutely... I had an unbelievable conversation with Marty Hurney the GM, David Tepper the owner, as well as Coach Rhule... I left that meeting inspired,” Newton said on the Tiki and Tierney radio show when asked if he believes he’ll be back. “I told them, ‘you won’t find another person in that locker room with more to prove, not only to you, but I have to prove to myself.’”
New head coach Matt Rhule has not spoken on the quarterback outside of his introductory press conference in which he deferred to needing to get to know the roster better and said:
“I had a chance to talk to Cam (Newton) yesterday and I have the utmost respect for him and what he’s done and I love the way he talked to me, to be quite honest,” Rhule said. “He didn’t want to talk about the past, he wanted to talk about the future.”
General manager Marty Hurney also spoke on Newton at the time:
“(The quarterback position is something) we’re going to have to sit down and talk about, the whole team. We’ve got a guy that’s been an MVP in the NFL and (Rhule) knows that,” Hurney said. “This is all going to be a process, (Rhule’s) going to have to get to know these guys, get to know the roster.”
The most recent comments have come from owner David Tepper, who has spoken on Newton multiple times over the last couple months, always going back to the question of if he would be healthy. Following the firing of Ron Rivera in December, Tepper had said that “hopefully” Newton would be healthy and ready to go.
Just over a week ago, he continued to reinforce the importance of his health, while making no commitments to the quarterback.
“I’m not a doctor. I’ve said it a million times, is he healthy? And he’s not a doctor, there’s a lot of different things that can happen. But first is he healthy,” Tepper said. “Tell me that and then we can talk.”
What comes next this week
Newton is progressing back from his surgery and the Panthers are expected to put him through some form of a workout in March. He has been in the team’s facility more than once this offseason. The target time for his recovery has been around March, the beginning of Spring.
If the Panthers try to trade him, they cannot do so until the new league year begins on March 18.
Rhule is scheduled to speak to the media Tuesday at 2 p.m. for his first public comments since being introduced as head coach. There will be a lot of rumors about Newton and the Panthers this week, but it’s important to keep in mind what has taken place thus far and been said as we head into this crazy part of the NFL offseason.
This story was originally published February 24, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
