Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton figured surgery wouldn’t be necessary

For his first three NFL seasons, Cam Newton often looked indestructible.

At 6-5 and 245 pounds, Newton is a quarterback in a tight end’s body.

If Steve Smith was the Panthers’ Bentley, Newton is their GMC Denali (Newton has a sponsorship deal with GMC) with a 6.2-liter V8 engine – big, powerful and not a vehicle you’d want to trade paint with.

But Newton’s brawn is not the only reason he’s started all 48 games he’s played (49 counting the playoff loss to San Francisco) since the Panthers picked him No. 1 overall in 2011.

The guy’s tough.

The immediate reaction among the armchair surgeons when news of Newton’s ankle surgery broke last week was: Why didn’t he get it done right after the season?

Because Newton waited until mid-March to have the surgery to tighten the ligaments in his left ankle – after his Caribbean vacation during Auburn’s spring break – he is expected to miss all of the Panthers’ organized team activities during his four-month recovery.

Much hand-wringing on Twitter ensued after the Panthers announced Newton’s timetable.

Certainly, it would have been good for Newton to spend those few weeks of OTAs in the spring tossing balls to newcomers Jerricho Cotchery and Tiquan Underwood and might-as-well-be-newbies Marvin McNutt and Tavarres King.

But it’s more important that Newton be healthy in July when training camp begins in Spartanburg. Assuming he has no setbacks, Newton will have plenty of time to connect with his new receivers.

So why didn’t Newton have the surgery immediately after the season-ending loss to the 49ers, when he re-injured the ankle he’d “nicked” in Week 15 against New Orleans?

For the same reason he’s only missed a handful of snaps due to injury as a Panther: He thought the pain would dissipate during the offseason and he’d be able to play through it without requiring surgery.

Newton has been criticized for his passing accuracy, sideline and postgame demeanor and leadership skills, and in many cases it was well deserved.

But he’s never been called soft.

We’ve watched Newton get drilled from behind by angry, 280-pound defensive ends over the past three years. Each time Newton’s picked himself up – sometimes more slowly than others – and lined up behind center for the next play.

Former Panthers left tackle Jordan Gross had the worst view of anyone for many of those blindside shots, since they often were delivered by the guy Gross was assigned to block.

Several times during his last couple of years with the Panthers, Gross marveled over the toughness Newton displayed on some of those bone-jarring hits. With the Panthers searching for Gross’ successor, there could be even more of those in Newton’s future.

None of this is meant to downplay the significance of Newton’s ankle surgery. For a quarterback whose mobility is a big part of his arsenal, a foot or ankle injury bears close watching.

But if Newton or the Panthers thought he needed surgery immediately after the season, they would have done it.

And if there comes a time when Newton fails to answer the bell because of a big hit or foot injury, it won’t be for a lack of toughness.

3 Extra Points on the Panthers

This story was originally published March 22, 2014 at 8:25 PM with the headline "Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton figured surgery wouldn’t be necessary."