Charlotte, Nick — Cam Newton He still believes he is one of the 32 best quarterbacks in the NFL and that people’s current perception of him comes from putting himself in an “f—ed-up” position with the Carolina Panthers last season.
“I signed on Thursday. Played on Sunday,” said 2015 NFL Player of the Year on “The Pivot Podcast” hosted by ESPN’s Ryan Clark and former NFL players Channing Crowder and Fred Taylor. “At what point did you think you’d be successful? The next week, you started. That’s still less than 10 days of being on the team. And you’re still trying to figure out the offense.
“So before I sit here and allow the narration that Cam no longer understands the matter, Cam takes full responsibility and says Cam put himself in a difficult situation, which has had a rebound effect on people’s thinking [how they think of me]. ”
Newton, 33, free agent. He spent his last eight games with the Panthers last season after signing him in November when he was at the start Sam Darnold He was put on reserve with a shoulder injury.
Four days later, in a backup role, Newton scored in his first two plays — a 2-yard run and a 2-yard pass — to help the Panthers grab a surprise win in Arizona.
He started the next five games, going 0-5 with three touchdown passes and five interceptions. He also had four fast landings.
The Panthers have not re-signed with him after the season, but have kept the door open for a possible return to rival Darnold, a third-round pick. Matt Coral And the former XFL star PJ Walker.
Newton, the first pick of the 2011 draft by the Panthers, believes he can help any team that gives him a chance. “There are no 32 people better than me,” he said repeatedly in the podcast.
“If you think I can’t be on someone’s team right now, you’re an idiot,” Newton said.
What the 33-year-old needs is a team with a good support team and time to learn the system, Newton said. .
“If you were asking to run this show without your supporting team supporting its end of the deal, you would always be left alone,” Newton said.
Newton recalled that he didn’t have that with the Panthers in 2021 and didn’t have a chance to learn attacking fully in New England in 2020 after signing in late June of that year.
“The New England experience was a tough case,” Newton said. “I was still learning the offense seven to eight weeks into the season.”
Newton won his first start with the Patriots, but finished 7-8 and had only eight touchdown passes, but 10 interceptions. He re-signed after the season, but was released at the end of training camp when New England decided to go with the first-round pick Mac Jones.
Newton said of the 2020 season: “It was just a load on the brain. There were times when I would go to the streak and still think. … Did I know that? Yes. To the degree that I needed to know to show the world I was still Cam Newton?” number.
“But I put myself in this position.”
Newton likened himself to Superman with his relegation celebrations when he first entered the league, but he hasn’t done so now.
“I have many children [five] Now, if I wasn’t Superman to them, I’d be damned if I let the world call me Superman,” he said.
Newton also made it clear that he never intended to insult or defame women when he appeared on the “Million Dollars Worth the Game” podcast in April.
In the podcast, Newton talked about women who “can’t cook” and “don’t know when to shut up.”
Newton said in April, “Now a woman, to me, handles your needs but knows how to meet a man’s needs. Doesn’t she?” ma boss b—–, I am this, me too.
“No, baby! But you can’t cook. You don’t know when to be quiet. You don’t know how to let a man lead.”
Newton stated that he was raised in a household with “two strong women”, his mother and grandmother, as well as his strong father.
Newton said, “What I should have added is that as a strong man you also have to listen to your partner. I did not make this point then. … I say as strong men we should appreciate that strong force in our lives.”
Asked if he was ready to walk away from football, Newton said: “I was ready, frankly, when the Panthers cut me for the first time.”
It happened in 2020 after Matt Roll was appointed to replace coach Ron Rivera.
But around the same time, Newton continued his narrative that he was still one of the 32 best quarterbacks in the NFL and still had the desire to prove himself. He also said that any team that gets it will have to deal with whatever comes with his bigger-than-life character at times.
“Because they know that once Cam Newton is brought into your establishment, it will be a mantra to itself…” Put Cam! Put a cam! “You can never find a player, you can never find someone in the office who says Cam was cancer.
“Now, am I supposed to apologize for being so huge as it is? Certainly not.”
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