Cam Newton could rub fans and teammates the wrong way, but everyone knew he was special

Except for Cam Newton’s full-time detractors, nobody wanted the Carolina Panthers-Newton breakup to go the way it did. The end was like a divorce, and it was not pretty.

But after how many divorces do both parties walk out of a lawyer’s office, or court, and say: “Well, wasn’t that pleasant?”

The Panthers released Newton on Tuesday, a move that would have been unfathomable a mere four years ago. On Feb. 7, 2016, Carolina lost to the Denver Broncos 24-10 in the Super Bowl, and that season Newton was the league’s most valuable player.

Since February 2016, Newton has collected injuries. All of those hits, and when Newton played full-time no quarterback was hit more, clung to him. The Panthers also could have clung to him, hoped his shoulder was good and his foot was good and that he could still move.

Yet to do so would be a major gamble. Instead, the Panthers gambled that they no longer require his services and, by cutting him loose, shed $19 million, money they’ll apply to younger and presumably healthier players.

Remove the emotion, and Carolina’s logic is evident. If Newton can’t run, and his odometer is such that he won’t run the way he once did, he has to evolve. Move behind the line, wait for a receiver to break free, occasionally take off and scramble, or get rid of the ball.

The running threat Newton posed enhanced his passing. If he doesn’t get you this way, he’ll get you that way. Can he evolve? Can he run? He has to move some. But is that exquisite movement still part of his game?

More than anybody, Newton made running quarterbacks credible. As well as Michael Vick of the Atlanta Falcons ran, teams beat on him, and Vick rarely ran in the fourth quarter the way he did in the first. At 6-foot-5, 245 pounds, Newton beat on defenders.

Whatever Newton has left, it will be strange to see another quarterback under center. The job has been Newton’s since 2011, when Carolina selected him with the first pick. Soon, he held the deed. It was his face you saw on advertisements, and his voice and music you heard at practice. The practice field and Bank of America Stadium were his.

To claim that Newton was the all-time Carolina fan favorite simply is not true. After a 2016 playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks, I wrote that Newton, who had a pass returned 90 yards for a touchdown, was a franchise quarterback, and the Panthers should pay him like one.

The response was beyond critical. It was nasty. Some of it had racial overtones, although the stuff was so cheap that undertones probably is more accurate since it was generated by bottom-feeders.

But you know what? If I had written that Newton was not a franchise quarterback and should not be paid like one, I would have been similarly criticized. Newton was not a great passer. But the crux of much of the criticism was Newton’s style – his clothes, his celebrations, his flamboyance. Him.

Newton attracted more attention than any Panther ever has, and some of it wore on teammates. I asked a player in the locker room one afternoon what I should write about Newton.

“Don’t,” he said.

Newton is boisterous and brash and has no interest in convention. He was going to succeed, and he was going to succeed his way. And didn’t he love it all?

I once asked former Carolina coach Ron Rivera which of is players became the most worked up before a game. I figured Rivera would pause; before they run out of the tunnel, many Panthers were so amped they practically were frothing.

Rivera paused for not even a second.

“Cam,” he said.

I’m not sure where Newton will land. His next team will have established players, and the structure won’t be shaped to accommodate him. But, what, he suddenly is going to stop talking in practice, stop playing his music in practice, stop dancing, stop getting excited about running onto the field before a game and start buying sensible clothes at Men’s Wearhouse?

We all have different memories of Newton.

Here’s one of mine.

Opening day, 2011, in Arizona against the Arizona Cardinals, Newton’s first game. The Panthers have the ball on their 23, third and 7. The offensive series is the second of Newton’s career.

After a timeout, Newton steps into his throw and fires. We hadn’t seen him go deep much in the preseason. Why show everybody what he can do?

What he did was hit fast, fast Steve Smith Sr. down the left sideline, and Smith scored, a 77-yard touchdown. Newton would throw for 422 yards in the 28-21 loss.

On my way to the locker room after the game, I ran into Jerry Richardson, who founded the Panthers and at that time owned them. He wore a dark suit and was preparing to walk out.

What do you think?

“I think I’m glad he plays for us,” Richardson said.

Panthers: In Temple they trust

I’m reluctant to write about the free agents the Carolina Panthers have hired because by the time you see this there could be several more. But no matter whom they sign, the following will be true.

If you played for Panthers coach Matt Rhule at Temple, a Carolina job awaits. I don’t even know if players have to be good. Show up in a Temple letter jacket, and you get a helmet. If Temple had a Rudy -- call him Vinnie -- expect to see him on the bench, waiting for his time.

If you are a receiver, a Carolina job awaits. Next season, there will be too many to share a room the way players at other positions do. They’ll require a suite.

If you are obscure, but have at least passed through the NFL, a Carolina job awaits. Even stat junkies were compelled to go online to learn more about some of the players Carolina signed. Something I learned about them through my research: they exist.

There are qualities almost all the new Panthers share: They are under 30, received little guaranteed money, and some have talent.

One of those talented players is Robby Anderson, who spent his first four seasons in the NFL with New York Jets. He’s 26, and let’s check -- ah, he’s a receiver and played at Temple. Anderson can move, and provides a big-time deep threat. Interesting to envision him with D.J. Moore.

Curtis Samuel also is in the mix. Remember how good Samuel was last season until the season began? He’ll make a spectacular play, and you’ll think, “Look what this guy can do.” Then you wait, plays, quarters, games, and maybe a month before he does it again.

What would Curtis, who is 23, do if paired with an experienced and healthy quarterback such as Bridgewater? Be interesting to find out.

I can’t fathom the Panthers being good next season. But they will be young, and I think creative, and if the offensive line holds up, they’ll score some points, albeit not as many as they give up.

NASCAR’s iRacing a success

Credit to NASCAR for its initial iRace. You heard Jeff Gordon and the fellows providing play by play Sunday for the 100-lap race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Drivers got involved from wherever they were, at least one of them, Denny Hamlin, shoeless.

How does a sport appease fans in a time notable for the absence of sports? Give fans a fix. Put on a virtual race, enlist drivers from a variety of series to participate, get Fox Sports to televise the thing, and go.

Some of the drivers struggled. Jimmie Johnson drove as if his Chevrolet was on ice. If he wasn’t getting passed, he was crashing into somebody. It was as if Jimmie Johnson channeled Jimmy Spencer.

I miss Spencer.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. led going into the last lap, and Shoeless Denny Hamlin was trying to get around him. Man, what a great finish. Finally Hamlin banged Earnhardt, and won.

If this happened in real life, Hamlin would not only need to put on shoes, but they better be running shoes. Earnhardt would have been cool. but his fans might have begged to differ.

They’ll iRace again Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.

You know what would be interesting? Hold a race at a track that once hosted Cup races, such Hickory Motor Speedway, Rockingham Speedway or North Wilkesboro Speedway, the latter of which is shuttered and last held a NASCAR Cup race in 1996.

Earnhardt Jr. and his crew cleaned the North Wilkesboro track in December to make it palatable for iRacing. Holding an iRace there would be like holding an NFL game in Canton, Ohio, between the defunct Canton Bulldogs and the Kansas City Chiefs.

In times such as these, everybody should get to play.