![]() ![]() His one year in New England, when he essentially served as the bridge between Tom Brady and Mac Jones, helped changed the perception of Newton for the better. He's only 32, but his youngest teammates grew up watching him and, likely for some of them, idolizing him. He's had success while always being himself, like him or not. He gave money and more importantly his time to uplift others in Charlotte. NFL officials have allowed Newton to take a beating from defensive players, never protecting him the way they do others at the position, and other players have noticed. He was at the vanguard of the current wave of pass-run quarterbacks and offenses taking advantage of their QB being able to rush for yards and not just be a statue in the pocket. At the time he was drafted, his quarterbacking style was completely different than what was canon for the position. He led Auburn to a national championship nearly singlehandedly in 2010. Still fun, and now after an up-and-down couple of years, reflective too.Īt this point, Newton is something of an icon among his peers. At some point as they answered questions Newton pulled out his phone and took a selfie with Anderson. Newton shared his post-game media conference with Robby Anderson, who caught his passing touchdown, noting that the Sunday before he was on his couch eating cereal with his kids. Some of them already knew his energy and his leadership style and how he comes up with a nickname for everyone in the locker room and coaching staff. Not all of those players played with Newton when he was last with the Panthers in 2019. They tried to accelerate a rebuild when they should have been patient, bringing Newton back home where it all started.This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. The Panthers are right back where they started and it’s entirely their own fault. That’s not exactly a strong endorsement considering he lost his job to Mac Jones, but Newton legitimately did have an impressive performance in the preseason. Newton hasn’t played since the preseason, but if his performance as a member of the Patriots is any indication, he’s easily the best quarterback on the team. The last option the Panthers had? Crawling back to the man they just let go of to usher in this new era of grotesque quarterback play. ![]() So what were the options? Deshaun Watson is a no-go until his legal situation is cleared up and it’s extremely difficult to find a starting caliber quarterback during the season. Even if Darnold didn’t suffer an injury to his shoulder, they still would have needed to make a move at quarterback before he completely tanked their season. The Panthers likely didn’t expect Darnold to get worse moving from the Jets to the Panthers, but it was a bit bold of them to trade legitimate draft capital for one of the worst quarterbacks in the league and expect that to work out. Darnold is also posting the worst QBR of his career this year as well with a paltry 35.8. His touchdown percentage has dropped from 3.7% to 2.3%. His yards per attempt has dropped from 6.6 to 6.5. Darnold largely had a woeful career with the Jets and has arguably been worse this season.ĭarnold threw an interception on 3.2% of his passing attempts with the Jets, that number has jumped to 3.6% in his short time with the Panthers. The irrational move the Panthers made was trading a second round pick and change for Sam Darnold. What does one do when they’re in a panic? They act irrationally, of course. Naturally, Rhule (who has a seven year deal!) and the Panthers panicked a bit after landing the eighth pick in the draft - where they still could have picked Justin Fields. Some lows, some highs, but in general, just not good enough to get the Panthers where they wanted to be.īridgewater also wasn’t bad enough to get the Panthers where they needed to be. So, they sign Teddy Bridgewater, who played exactly like Teddy Bridgewater. Instead, they opted to rebuild while trying to be competitive at the same time. All the Panthers had to do was competitively punt a year and they would have their own pick of the litter of a supremely talented 2021 rookie quarterback class. New head coach Matt Rhule wanted the opportunity to bring in his own guy, which isn’t an absurd premise on its own. The Panthers officially announced that they re-signed franchise legend Cam Newton as a quick fix to their quarterback issues - that really started when they got rid of Newton prior to the 2020 season.Īt the time, moving on from Newton wasn’t a terrible idea. ![]()
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