The Carolina Panthers released Cam Newton on March 24. More than two months later, Newton remains unemployed.
“I think the injuries are probably most prevalent in people’s minds,” former NFL cornerback and current NFL on FOX analyst Ronde Barber said on Tiki & Tierney. “Last year was the first year that Cam just didn’t play football. He was beat up, and he was beat up the year before. I think if you’re a GM or a coach that’s looking at a quarterback, you don’t want to spend the type of money to bring in a hurt Cam Newton if he’s not going to be your starting quarterback. You’re going to spend a lot of money to make him a backup? I don’t know that Cam is going to take a $1 million contract like Jameis [Winston] did to be the backup in New Orleans. I just don’t see him doing that.”
Winston led the NFL with 5,109 passing yards last season, but he’s not a former NFL MVP. Newton is.
“Exactly,” Barber said. “So then you’re asking yourself how much is Cam willing to take a role on a team? I think a lot of experts and analysts are right about this: it’ll be a team that comes into need at some point, whether it’s training camp or early in the football season that signs him. But for a guy to have his credentials and still be on the street, there’s something there. I’m not close with Cam, I’m not close to that situation, so I don’t know. But it is kind of baffling that he’s not out there.”