Tom Talks: Waiting for the good part of Carolina Panthers’ future, whenever that may be

The Carolina Panthers’ veterans are like statues from a different time. One by one, Carolina knocks down those with contracts, and free agents disappear.

But even if you wince every time the Panthers jettison another big name, what did you expect? This is Year One of the Matt Rhule/David Tepper Era. Tepper now has his coach, and Rhule is going to fill the team with his guys. As Rhule’s unprecedented seven-year contract (for a first-time NFL head coach) suggests, he has the authority to shape his team anyway he wants to.

The Panthers obviously will be bad next season. Because stars such as Cam Newton, Greg Olsen and Luke Kuechly (who retired) won’t be around to mitigate the pain, many fans threaten not to renew season tickets, or not to buy them for a single game.

I don’t believe them, at least not most of them. The NFL is the most popular sport in and around Charlotte, more popular than college football and college basketball, and if you’re accustomed to seeing a game live, you’ll struggle to stay away. You’ll embrace at least some of the new guys, and you’ll be curious to see what Rhule can do.

Although the Panthers have committed to a wholesale rebuild, they’ve quietly added talent. Ladies and gentlemen, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, whom the Panthers signed Wednesday to a three-year, $63-million contract.

Bridgewater is reliable, smart and efficient. Although not nearly as flashy as Newton, he is much more than a caretaker. He’ll lead. I like the hire. (But so, apparently, does everybody else in the media, which is so strange.)

Considering Carolina’s start-over philosophy, $63 million is a lot to spend. But that’s the going rate for a starter, and somebody has to start.

Look. It is tough to watch veterans go. A player I’ll miss is free-agent defensive end Mario Addison, who is 32. I’m biased. Addison is a really good guy, a really good interview, and one of the most underrated players in franchise history.

Defensive tackle Vernon Butler will join Addison on the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo residents head south on the 10-hour drive to Charlotte. Panthers go north.

Next season will be bizarre. Along with bulldozing their veterans, the Panthers have bulldozed their past.

I’m curious about what the future looks like. And when the good part arrives.

Remembering Cam Newton, unfiltered

Charlotte has never had an athlete such as Cam Newton. He was a big deal when the Carolina Panthers selected him with the first pick in the 2011 draft, and he never let up. He was the first Panther to appear in national television ads, and not once in his nine seasons here did he need a last name. Say “Cam,” and everybody knows whom you mean.

Since the Panthers moved on from Newton this week, his fame has grown.

So far, I’ve heard and read that Newton is the most popular player in Carolina history.

He’s not.

I’ve heard and read that he’s the best player in Carolina history.

He’s not.

There’s no reason to embellish his reputation or contributions. He doesn’t require that.

True, Newton is the only most valuable player the Panthers have ever had. But Steve Smith, Luke Kuechly and Julius Peppers were better at their jobs than Newton was at his.

But Smith, Kuechly and Peppers were not going to win an MVP. The only linebacker to win was the New York Giants’ Lawrence Taylor in 1986. No receiver has ever won. In 1971, when the NFL conferred an MVP in each conference, Minnesota Vikings’ tackle Alan Page won the NFC MVP.

Newton is bigger than his statistics. He danced and yelled, had a great time, and invited everybody to come along. Giving a post-touchdown ball to a kid in a good seat at Bank of America Stadium was such a great touch. Think the kids might remember when they’re not kids anymore?

Some found his Superman celebration tiresome. Darn it, that’s not how Y.A. Tittle did it. However … I covered a game in the Challenger League that the Panthers sponsor, a league for kids with challenges. After one kid scored, he mimicked Cam’s Superman celebration.

His teammates were thrilled and their opponents were thrilled and their families watching from the sidelines were thrilled. The celebration was pure joy, made you want to hug somebody, and I’ll remember it as long as I live.

Is Newton a great quarterback? He is not. He was MVP in 2015, when the Panthers tore through the season and were favored to win the Super Bowl. (They didn’t.) He had one great season, and he has great games and great quarters, and he makes great plays.

He’s not a pure passer. His arm is powerful, at least before shoulder surgeries, and he’s hit some pretty passes deep. He also throws passes so high that a receiver would require an elevator to catch them. Newton compensates by running.

Here comes a 6-foot-5, 245-pound quarterback with some speed, lots of moves and the ability to discard a smaller tackler. And almost everybody seems smaller. That option, the ability to save a play or create one simply by taking off, distinguishes him. No quarterback his size had ever moved like he did.

Newton, more than anybody, more than even the Atlanta Falcons’ Michael Vick, created opportunities for running quarterbacks. It was his path they followed. Suddenly, running quarterbacks were accorded the credibility they deserved.

One quality I admire: Newton often took a beating, but when was the last time you heard him talk about it? People characterize him as moody and not a leader. But when did he even give his linemen a dirty look?

Here’s one way to lead, not matter how you make your living. Don’t blame others. Newton didn’t. You want to earn respect from the biggest guys in the locker room? Don’t blame them.

But things wear out, among them tires, knees and relationships. Newton’s relationship with the Panthers wore out. Other than turning 30, he did nothing wrong. He took hits as if he collected them, and his body remembers them all. Will he ever be the running, moving, big-armed quarterback again? Nobody knows.

Another factor we don’t know: Was Newton willing to play next season, the last on his contract, without any guarantees about what comes next?

I can’t see Newton ever being a guy who drops back and stands as if implanted. But I no longer can envision him as the scrambling moving quarterback we knew so well.

There’s middle ground. He could evolve into a player like the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger, who moves around behind the line much more than he is given credit for as he waits for receivers to break free.

When things were going well, Newton made football fun. He wore unconventional outfits, and I can proudly say I never wrote about any of them.

I suspect I never will.

Electric football: a reality check

Needing a sports fix, I dug through a closet to look for something. I didn’t care what it was, as long as it worked. I found an electric football game.

I pulled out the board, dumped the players on a table, and sorted them out. Amazingly, they were all there. I lined them up and coached both teams.

I got kind of excited. When we were kids, we all had electric football games. We had hockey games in which we used a thin lever to move each player. We had baseball games in which we used dice or a spinner; a player would in theory replicate in our game what he did in real life. We had football games in which we laid an offensive play over a defensive play, and slowly pulled a piece of cardboard that allowed the light below to illustrate the trajectory and result.

Of course, we’ve all matured and evolved and no longer play our childish games. We’ve moved on to jobs and families, fantasy sports, brackets, betting lines, and Madden.

Time for the first play!

I click a switch, the players begin to vibrate and I run the first play, a sweep. Offensive players go right at the defensive players, and defensive players go right at the offensive players. This is so cool.

And then the offensive players take a hard left for the sideline, like prisoners who see a break in the wall or sportswriters at a halftime buffet.

The defensive players, however, do not take advantage. They turn around and run backward. Imagine going into battle with these guys. All right, fellas, everybody who’s with me take one step forward. Oh, how nice. Social distancing.

I ran four more plays, each worse than the previous.

The final score: Reality 40.

Nostalgia 0.

I’d offer the game to the first reader who tells me on Facebook or Twitter that he or she wants it. But, it’s already in the trash. You can thank me later.

Bismack Biyombo? At least he’s still here

If you lived in or around Charlotte in 2011, it was an important year. It was the year that the best football player on the best team in college football, Cam Newton, came to town, and the year that the best basketball player on the best team in college basketball, Kemba Walker, joined him. The Carolina Panthers hired Ron Rivera as head coach.

The Charlotte Hornets also drafted Bismack Biyombo, who has created a nice career, and is somebody you wish you knew.

Only Biyombo still works in Charlotte.

This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 6:00 AM.