Cam Newton was the best thing to happen to the Carolina Panthers franchise but his final years and subsequent parting with the franchise did not go as he had hoped for it to. Of late, Newton’s legacy as a Panther has been put through the wringer as he tests the love that the team has left for him.
Recently, he made a statement which raised eyebrows. Cam Newton said that the Carolina Panthers had “a locker room of losers” at the time they drafted him in 2011. His former teammate Steve Smith Sr. took offense to this statement and clapped back with his comments.
However, Cam Newton is not backing down from his initial comments. He doubled down on his take on Thursday’s episode of the 4th and 1 with Cam Newton podcast.
When did we become so sensitive? When did we become so sensitive to really speaking what the reality is? A locker room full of losers? Aggressive, but it’s true.
Cam Newton said
The numbers support Newton’s claim as the Panthers had won 2 of 16 games the preceding season before drafting him. The subsequent year, the team improved to a 6-10 record.
Cam Newton walked into a Panthers locker room with a losing culture
His former teammate and legendary Panthers receiver Steve Smith Sr. posted “53 man locker room – 1=52 losers. Wow…breaking news to 89,” suggesting that he was an exception to Newton’s categorization of the team featuring players with losing mindsets.
The quarterback clarified that his comments were directed at the culture of the team. “I’m not specifically talking about those guys. I’m talking about the culture that was there prior to me coming into the locker room- and it was a losers mentality.” John Fox was the Head Coach of the team but after Newton was drafted, the team brought Ron Rivera on board. It was Rivera who began to change to trajectory of the team and made Carolina a winning franchise.
Four years later, the team went on to have its best season going 15-1, a year that Cam Newton won the MVP Award. The Panthers went to the Super Bowl but fell short to the Broncos. Since that point, the team has not been the same and they struggle to regain that level of glory.
