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According to Dan Graziano of Espn 4. Panthers sign QB Teddy Bridgewater. Nothing Surprising here, most of said this was a bad move going into it. A few notes from the article: ”Panthers paid Bridgewater $24 million in 2020 and $10 million of his $17 million 2021 salary is fully guaranteed.” “The Panthers could have kept Cam Newton for $19.1 million, probably not done a whole lot worse than they did, and also not be on the hook for another $10 million in 2021.” These are the type of dumb decisions that a rebuilding franchise can’t continue to make. Let’s do what we have to do to land one of the big 4 QBs in the draft and not go chasing other veteran QBs that don’t fit into this rebuild. Time for Rhule and Brady to start fresh and get the guy that will define their tenure here. Ron can walk away saying he won multiple division titles, a NFC championship, a Super Bowl appearance, and Head Coach of the year because he had Cam. No more bad decisions at that position please.

Not only has Cam Newton earned the Most Valuable Player of the NFL this season, he has redefined the position along the way. Anyone who watches the Panthers play on Sundays clearly understands this fact. However, there are still a few who try to dismiss Newton’s performance using the old way of judging a quarterback. Allow me to present to you the main bullet points of Cam Newton’s amazing 2015 MVP bid. 3837 Yards Passing - 16th in NFL Here is the one stat that is not all that impressive. Cam Newton only threw for 3837 yards. Strange that in this day and age nearly 4000 yards passing is not particularly impressive. If Cam Newton played the entire games against Atlanta and Tampa Bay, he may have surpassed 4000 yards. But, as you can see by the following stats… it really doesn’t matter. Many doubters will point to Cam’s completion percentage. It is easy to spot a living room couch expert that way. They have no idea how many dropped passes Newton has played through. Heck, if Ted Ginn held on to just half of his drops alone Cam Newton would have had well over 4000 yards and been ranked in the top 10 in this category. 7.8 Yards per pass - 7th in the NFL The Panthers are a running team. In fact, they ranked 2nd in the NFL in rushing overall. Naturally, on a team based on the run, the QB will be throwing less. Taking this into account, Cam Newton averaged 7.8 yards per pass which ties him for 7th in the league. This is more yards per attempt than Tom Brady. Throw in the fact that Cam did so without a single wide receiver that would start on any other NFL team. This stat becomes not only impressive, but nearly unbelievable. 35 passing touchdowns - 2nd in the NFL (tied with Bortles, E. Manning, Palmer) Thats right, Cam Newton is tied for 2nd place in the NFL for number of touchdowns thrown, also known as the most important stat for a QB in football. Moving down the field is meaningless if a QB cannot deliver in the red zone. Again, without a wide receiver that would start on any other NFL team. Simply amazing. Ok, so there are some traditional QB stats that clearly show Cam Newton is one of the top QB’s in the league. Do these stats make him a MVP candidate? Not really. They make him a very good quarterback. Now comes the part where he has redefined the position…. 56 Rushing First Downs - 5th in the NFL I have said it for many seasons now. Cam Newton is 80% of the Panthers offense. Without his first down runs, many improvised, the Panthers would rank very low on offense. However, because of Cam Newton, the Panthers scored more points in 2015 than any other team in the NFL. Cam Newton single handedly kept the chains moving 56 times this season. This is almost twice as many times as the next QB on the list…. Russell Wilson who ranked 33rd. 10 Rushing Touchdowns - 5th in the NFL (tied with RB Todd Gurley) Cam Newton is tied with probably Rookie of the Year RB Todd Gurley in rushing touchdowns. He is ahead of full time running backs like Doug Martin, David Johnson, DeMarco Murray, the list goes on. Cam Newton has one rushing touchdown less than Adrian Peterson. Take a moment and let that sink in. Cam Newton has already tied Steve Young’s career record for rushing touchdowns. Now, take into consideration that Cam Newton clearly was a very good QB in 2015 despite lack of weapons, he also was a top runner in this league. In other words..... Cam Newton was the majority of the production, both in the air and on the ground, in the offense that scored the most points in the NFL. That, my friends, is MVP defined. View full article

2015 may be the year a true changing of the guard happens at the QB position in the NFC South. For many years now, Drew Brees has been tops in the south. Few impartial observers would argue that fact. However, Brees showed signs of wear and tear last season. As a result, the Saints look to be moving towards a more run based offense. Will that help? Matt Ryan has proven to be a good quarterback at times, but has fallen short when it mattered most. Can the Falcons new Head Coach instill a toughness into Matt Ryan and help him overcome adversity? Cam Newton is now healthy and appears to have the best offensive weapons of his career at his disposal. Is the offensive line improved enough to keep him from running for his life? Jameis Winston, the unknown, could have a record breaking rookie year just as Cam Newton did. Crazier things have happened. How would you rank the NFC South Quarterbacks? View full article

The Carolina Panthers finished their offseason workout in spirited fashion. This was one of the better practices to have witnessed. No punches were thrown, but it was exciting none the less. Here are the highlights... Konly Ealy impressed early with a reaching bat down of a Cam Newton pass. Could Ealy be using yesterday's fisticuffs at motivation?Starting corners today were Josh Norman and Peanut Tillman for the first half of practice, and then Benwikere replaced Tillman for the rest. Starting safeties were Tre Boston and Roman Harper.Josh Norman was very physical with Gamecocks rookie WR Damiere Byrd at the line, jamming him at the line. After the play, Josh would walk over to Byrd with encouragement, telling him what he did and how to counter it. Daryl Williams was the starting right tackle for most of the day. Mike Remmers spent time at center with the first and second unity. It is unclear if this is more than typical evaluation. TE Jamie Childers dropped a sure TD from Cam Newton. Not a great way to make an impression with the first team. Todman hauled in another nice touchdown from Derek Anderson out of the backfield. Todman has impressed as of late. CB Lou Young has looked less than average until today. He made a couple of nice plays on the ball. Bene Benwikere's quickness is an obvious asset to the Panthers. He is at the receiver instantly on Cam Newton check downs. Corey Brown again showed nice hands with an important sideline grab from Cam Newton. Devin Funchess also showed impressive hands today on a quick out from Cam Newton. Cam Newton had a couple of poor overthrows today to Ted Ginn, but Funchess is more difficult to place the ball out of reach for. A scary moment today happened when Cam Newton took a hard fall to the ground after slipping on the turf. There were many slips this year in practices for everyone.During the last first team drills, the offensive tackles were Martin and Williams. Jarrett Boykin dropped a sure TD from Cam Newton. Boykin tried to cradle the ball, but it bounced off his chest. Boykin has struggled throughout OTAs and Mini Camp. Damiere Byrd is looking like a keeper, at least on the practice squad. His snaps have been increasing as some others have been decreasing. He is taking full advantage of them. View full article

I have no doubt you have heard about the punches thrown at practice today, so here are the other things you need to know about today's Panthers practice. ​ View full article

The Carolina Panthers opened up an additional day for media, which came as a nice surprise this morning. So I rearranged my schedule and headed to Biggs Camera for my gear. Those guys are so awesome they are providing me with equipment this season so that I can bring these images to you. Having them in my corner this year is a load off my mind in terms of equipment. So make sure you show them some love if you are in Charlotte and in need of camera gear or prints. They are good people. Charles Johnson was showing off some nice kicks and a new haircut today. Kelvin Benjamin and Bene Benwikere again were limited in their practice involvement. I spoke to Bene after practice. He is feeling good and should return as soon as tomorrow possibly. After practice coach Rivera mentioned Kelvin also may return. Just because Kelvin is limited in team drills doesn't mean he is taking it easy. He spent a lot of time with the ball machine, catching pass after pass. He seems more aggravated by not being able to participate on the field than by a nagging hamstring...... View full article

One of the most important stories of the week that few people are talking about is Cam Newton and his health. After an injury plagued 2014 offseason that only got worse into the regular season, Cam's health probably should be more at the forefront of the Panthers fan concerns. I can remember in training camp of 2014, after practices Cam could barely walk up the hill to the ice tubs. The physical toll after a single practice was obvious to even the most casual observer. He would cringe after each step, soreness from surgery performed on his ankle nagging at him. It would continue to bother him throughout the entire season. Throw in a couple of rib injuries before the end of 2014, and it is easy to see why his health should be a big concern. So at Thursday's OTA session, I was curious to see how Cam behaved. View full article

http://www.charlotte...ml#.VOkqVnYyF3M Quote Quote

Cam Newton should be paid more than Luck or Wilson. If you ask yourself what percentage of the overall offensive success is each QB responsible for, Cam Newton comes out well above Andrew Luck or Russell Wilson. Cam Newton and his legs are the main reason the Panthers offense had any success at all last season. If not for his ability to stay alive with his physical talents when linemen and linebackers are chasing him, the Panthers would have been ranked dead last in the league. In other words, Cam Newton is a huge band-aid holding together an inept offense. Partly due to lack of weapons, partly due to a below average coordinator, the Panthers offense was more of a hindrance than a help in the playoff race. Whatever the reasons for the bad offense, Cam Newton made sure it was at least competitive. I'm not saying Cam Newton will get more money. I'm not saying the Panthers will pay more money. I'm saying if you look at the situation objectively, Cam and his agent have a serious argument for more.

First things first. The NFL is an organic entity. It evolves. Coaching staffs look for weaknesses to exploit. They do so until those particular weaknesses no longer remain. Then they search for another. This is how it has always been. Once a team finds a weakness, you can expect others to follow suit. It is a guarantee. Going into the the Cardinals game, Cam Newton was being rushed by at least 5 defenders a league high 44% of the time. Newton, protected by a patchwork offensive line, saw more pressure than any other quarterback in the league. How did Arizona use this information? They doubled down, and the league was watching. Arizona rushed at least 5 defenders 60% of the total snaps. The result? Seven sacks, three interceptions, six points. The word is out, pressure Cam Newton and the Panthers offense will have no answers. This is not to say that Cam Newton is totally to blame. GM David Gettleman could have provided a better offensive line to protect him. Ron Rivera could have urged Mike Shula to find a way to get the ball out more quickly. Mike Shula could have anticipated the pressure and developed a counter strategy. The Offensive line could play with more heart and better communication. The blame can be spread around quite easily. It is now up to Mike Shula to realize that teams will be be bringing more pressure than ever before. It is up to him to counter the strategy with plays that quickly develop and make the defense second guess their approach. Can we expect to see more screens, draws, and hot routes? We can only hope. In short, Cam Newton can be a franchise player in this league, but not on his own. So far this season his team has let him down. Click here to view the article