Scott Fowler

Led by Newton, the ‘Carolina Exes’ form powerhouse. But was letting Cam go correct?

By Scott Fowler

September 25, 2020 6:00 AM

They are everywhere, these former Carolina Panthers.

You can’t turn on the TV or look at a social media feed without running into one of them. Headlined by former quarterback Cam Newton but bolstered by many more, they are thriving in the NFL in 2020.

In fact, if you took the dozen or so Panthers playing major roles around the league and fashioned it into the core of an NFL team, that squad of “Carolina Exes” would blister the actual 2020 Panthers.

You’d have to give the Exes another couple of dozen mediocre players to fill out this hypothetical team, but you get my drift.

We’ll go through 14 of the most prominent “Carolina Exes” in a moment to see how they’re doing. It’ll be a little like getting those Christmas card catch-up letters — and you know how much you love those — in September.

But first, a little more about Newton.

The point of this column isn’t to bash the Panthers for releasing Newton. As I’ve written before, this divorce was inevitable for months before it happened and has had the side benefit of resurrecting Newton’s career.

I think it was a difficult move, but also a win-win. The Panthers wanted and needed a fresh start with a new coach and quarterback, and may well draft another one in the first round in 2021.

And they couldn’t trust that Newton — who missed 16 of his final 18 games as a Panther due to injuries and was entering the last year of his contract with an eye on a new deal — would stay healthy for the long term, or that they would want to commit to him after 2020.

As for Newton, he needed a better team, not a team that was blowing things up.

If Newton was still playing in Charlotte, the Panthers would still be 0-2, and the quarterback’s stats wouldn’t be nearly as good. Newton can’t sack the other team’s quarterback, nor can he block the other team’s defensive line.

Just watch Newton play for the Patriots. Not only is he healthy — which allows him to be a spectacular runner once again and to throw the ball 55 yards on a rope like he did for all those years in Charlotte — but look at the time that far superior Patriots offensive line gives him to throw.

Newton looks again like “a power forward playing quarterback,” as Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden said this week, and he looks like that because he’s got the luxury of time once again.

The Carolina Panthers’ 2018 season was chronicled in an eight-episode Amazon series called “All or Nothing” that came out in the summer of 2019. That 2018 team’s six captains, shown in this photo, are all no longer with the Panthers. COURTESY OF AMAZON STUDIOS

In the meantime, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater had an uncharacteristic three turnovers himself last week for Carolina, but he wouldn’t make my list of this team’s top-10 problems overall.

Bridgewater is fine. Newton is better than fine — when he’s healthy, and especially when he’s with a better team. I’m glad for his success. He deserves it.

With that in mind, here’s my quick synopsis of many of the most visible Panthers in the NFL right now — including offensive guard Trai Turner, who the Panthers face Sunday when they visit the L.A. Chargers.

In alphabetical order, here’s how those 13 former Panther players and one prominent ex-coach have fared so far. The “PFF” rating, where applicable, stands for the player’s rating by Pro Football Focus, which rates every player at every position by grading every NFL play each week.

MARIO ADDISON (Buffalo)

PFF — 60th out of 106 edge rushers.

With Panther alums Sean McDermott (head coach) and Brandon Beane (GM) running the show, “Carolina North” has plucked a number of former Panthers over the years. Addison would have been a nice one to keep — he has outscored the Panthers by himself on sacks so far this season, 2-0.

New York Giants cornerback James Bradberry (24) breaks up a pass intended for Pittsburgh wide receiver James Washington (13) on Sept. 14th. Bradberry spent his first four seasons with Carolina. Seth Wenig AP

JAMES BRADBERRY (N.Y. Giants)

PFF — 2nd out of 108 cornerbacks.

Bradberry became one of the best corners in the league while at Carolina, but I agreed with the decision not to pay him the monster contract that the Giants gave him in the offseason (three years, $43.5 million, $32 million guaranteed). He gave up a touchdown to Pittsburgh’s JuJu Smith-Schuster in his debut, but he’s been so good the rest of the time he still ranks No. 2 overall.

HARRISON BUTKER (Kansas City)

PFF — No rating; as a kicker, Butker hasn’t played enough snaps yet in 2020.

Here’s one of the most obvious mistakes the Panthers have made in the past four years. Butker was the Panthers’ seventh-round draft pick in 2017, but Carolina ultimately kept the much more expensive Graham Gano.

Butker now has a Super Bowl ring with Kansas City, has made 90 percent of his field goals in his career and nailed a 58-yarder in overtime to beat the Chargers last week.

DAMIERE BYRD (New England)

PFF — 77th out of 116 wide receivers.

Byrd, a speedster who went to South Carolina, has been revitalized in New England with Newton. Plagued by injury and lack of opportunity in Carolina, he only caught an average of four passes per season from 2016-18. He eclipsed that in a single game last week, catching six passes from Newton for 72 yards against Seattle.

THOMAS DAVIS (Washington)

PFF — No rating; Davis has yet to play a snap in 2020.

At 37, one of the greatest Panthers of all time is trying to squeeze another year out of his body in Washington under his former coach, Ron Rivera. He has yet to play this season due to a lingering calf injury, but may make his Washington debut Sunday.

Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin, who played for Carolina in 2019, is helped off the field Sept. 20th. Irvin suffered a torn ACL and won’t return this season. Elaine Thompson AP

BRUCE IRVIN (Seattle)

PFF — 22nd out of 116 edge rushers.

Irvin, who returned to Seattle in 2020 after an 8.5-sack year with Carolina in 2019, hasn’t had a happy homecoming. After playing well early, he suffered a season-ending torn ACL in Sunday night’s win over England.

Irvin is far from the only prominent former Panther to get injured in this violent sport: defensive tackle Gerald McCoy joined the Dallas Cowboys in the offseason, only to rupture his quad in August and see his 2020 season end without playing a single game. Cornerback Josh Norman has yet to make his debut in Buffalo — he’s got a hamstring problem and is on injured reserve.

A.J. KLEIN (Buffalo)

PFF — 53rd out of 76 linebackers.

Klein was always someone I thought the Panthers should have kept, but they had Luke Kuechly and that made Klein somewhat expendable. He was a solid linebacker in New Orleans for three years and now starts in Buffalo.

New England quarterback Cam Newton (1) has scored four rushing touchdowns in two games for the Patriots. Steven Senne AP

CAM NEWTON (New England)

PFF — 5th out of 34 quarterbacks.

Newton has been crazy good so far and he looks joyful again. After two games, PFF rates him above, among others, recent MVPs Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. See the first part of this column for a more extensive discussion. But I know he has to be loving that offensive line — the best he’s had since Carolina’s Super Bowl year.

ANDREW NORWELL (Jacksonville)

PFF — 19th out of 73 offensive guards.

Norwell is probably the best offensive lineman the Panthers have ever let walk in his prime. But the money Jacksonville offered — $66 million over five years — was outlandish and would have been hard to match. Norwell has done well with the Jaguars, although Jacksonville still isn’t any good.

GREG OLSEN (Seattle)

PFF — 59th out of 71 tight ends.

Olsen’s drop that resulted in a pick-six touchdown for New England on Sunday was startling and uncharacteristic. But while his departure from Carolina was awkward, he has landed well — with perhaps the NFL’s best quarterback in Russell Wilson and a talent-laden team that has a real Super Bowl shot.

Olsen has played 68.8 percent of Seattle’s offensive snaps so far and scored once. Carolina, in the meantime, really hasn’t gotten its tight ends untracked in the new offense. As with Newton, you just hope Olsen stays healthy.

Seattle Seahawks tight end Greg Olsen had a ball bounce off his hands and directly to New England safety Devin McCourty Sunday, leading to a Patriots touchdown. Bettina Hansen TNS

RON RIVERA (Washington)

The Panthers’ head coach from 2011-19, Rivera quickly got hired in Washington. He’s endured one crisis after another while there, including being diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma located in a lymph node. He’s been working in his chemotherapy treatments between coaching assignments. Yet he has Washington (3-13 in 2019) off to a 1-1 start and has become an even more well-respected figure throughout the league since leaving Charlotte.

TRAI TURNER (L.A. Chargers)

PFF — 67th out of 73 offensive guards.

Traded for left tackle Russell Okung in a surprising offseason move, Turner starts for the Chargers but hasn’t been particularly impressive so far, according to PFF.

GREG VAN ROTEN (N.Y. Jets)

PFF — 49th out of 73 offensive guards.

Known as an ironman in Carolina, Van Roten has unsurprisingly played in 100 percent of the Jets’ offensive snaps so far in 2020.

DARYL WILLIAMS (Buffalo)

PFF — 33rd out of 71 offensive tackles.

The “Panther Exes” would probably have to convert at least one guard to tackle, but Williams plays the position already and could man the other spot. He has been a road-grader so far this season for Buffalo. Williams only cost the Bills $2.5 million on a one-year contract in 2020.