Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton made some head-scratching comments on Monday during an interview for a local Charlotte TV station.
“I say this with the most humility, but I don’t think nobody has ever been who I’m trying to be,” Newton said. “Nobody has the size, nobody has the speed, nobody has the arm strength, nobody had the intangibles that I’ve had. I’m not saying I’m the one-on-one type of person that this league will never see again. No, I’m not saying that, hear me out. I’m just saying that so much of my talents have not been seen in one person.”
When he prefaces the entire statement by saying “I say this with the most humility,” it does nothing but enhance the arrogant tone of the entire message. My summation is that he believes because he is the most athletic quarterback, for a player his size, that makes him one of the most unique players the NFL has ever seen. True or not, he just proved to the entire league, including his teammates, that he still has problems with maturity and doesn’t fully understand what a quarterback’s responsibilities entail.
No one cares about physical attributes, Cam. The only thing that should matter to an NFL player, especially a quarterback, is winning, and Newton hasn’t been responsible for very many victories over his career. He has a career record of 30-31-1, and the majority of those wins should be attributed to the defense rather than Newton. He has never had a completion percentage above 61.7 percent, never had a QB rating above 88.8 and has thrown 54 interceptions in 62 career starts. Maybe Newton should change his focus from his love affair with himself to improving his on-field abilities.
The most frustrating part, as a Panthers fan, is the realization that the franchise is forced into hitching its wagons to Newton for the foreseeable future as his contract expires after next season. There aren’t enough “franchise” quarterbacks to go around, so the choices for the front office are: sign Newton to a long-term extension, or spend years looking for his successor while the organization is mired in mediocrity.
Because of the value placed on quarterbacks today, Newton’s camp has gone on record saying they are searching for a deal that would make their client one of the highest, or the highest, paid players in the NFL. Russell Wilson only has one year left on his deal as well, so both camps are looking at each other to establish the market. Do you see anything wrong with this picture? Wilson has led the Seattle Seahawks to three consecutive playoff appearances, two straight Super Bowl appearances, winning in 2013 and losing in 2014, and he has a career record of 36-12. Newton, on the other hand, is 30-31-1 career, as I mentioned earlier, has one winning record in his four seasons and has one career playoff win, in which he completed 18-of-32 passes for 198 yards, two touchdowns and two turnovers.
I’m not quite sure how Newton ever got lumped in with the best quarterbacks in the NFL, but he should share some of his enormous contract he’s about to receive with whoever put him in that conversation. He’s a mediocre quarterback who is about to get outrageously overpaid, but let’s not forget there’s never been a QB in NFL history with his size, speed, arm strength and intangibles. Thanks Cam, for pointing out the most irrelevant strengths in your game so that we wouldn’t focus on your shortcomings, but next time it may be better if you just keep your self-indulging praises to yourself.
Jason Fletcher is a MLB Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JasonFletcher25, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google+.