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Jourdan Rodrigue on Cam

ladypanther

By ladypanther,
in Carolina Panthers

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ladypanther Grand Master

ladypanther

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Newton took more brutal hits than any quarterback in the league. He played through injuries, sometimes to a fault, that would topple lesser men and women. He was, for the Panthers, the only NFL player in modern franchise history to lead his team in passing touchdowns, and rushing touchdowns. He was the best short-yardage “back” in the league. And when the ball was in his hands, especially late in the game, you felt this weird patch of goosebumps rise up along your arms, like maybe you were about to see something special. Something rare.

He fed thousands of kids in Charlotte and Atlanta at Thanksgiving and at Christmas. He gave out coats and blankets to the homeless on random, deadly cold nights in Charlotte. He made mistakes in public — most of us are afforded the luxury of doing that in private — and when criticism was warranted, he learned from it. When criticism wasn’t warranted — and we all know that happened often — he turned the other cheek. He was sneered at, at times, by some more vocal Prokaryotes, because he collected objects and outfits, shiny, pretty things that made him feel unique, that spoke for him the things he sometimes struggled to convey. But people shouldn’t forget that he gave as much as he collected.

Newton taught me something important, early in my career: You can feel messy about someone or something for a moment. Things can be messy, and complicated, and they can hurt in ways people will never truly know. But all of that doesn’t change how you should treat people. I once had my own reasons to feel messy about Newton, and he about me — but that never, ever prevented us from being kind to each other anyway. And that’s important to know about him.

 

Well said.

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pantherj Grand Master

pantherj

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I remember the time leading up to Cam making the joke of Jourdan's understanding or interest football. Cam was on this weird roll where he would tease various reporters throughout each interview, and I think he was trying to keep that going when he made the routes comment to Jourdan. Little did he know at the time that it would cost him his triple zero yogurt deal, or that he was seriously in the wrong. He got blasted in the media and lost a lot of money, but learned a valuable lesson.

I'll always remember Cam's outstanding plays, and his charitable contributions. He was an amazing athlete and he gave back to the community. Solid guy.

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Mr. Scot Grand Master

Mr. Scot

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I was gonna put this in another thread, but here is just as good a place.

For anyone who wants to read up, here are links to the most recent articles on today's events from our best beat writers (excerpts included, a little extra from Jourdan's article because I think hers was the best of the bunch).

Jourdan Rodrigue: Cam Newton's complicated exit from Carolina leaves complicated, messy thoughts

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Things feel … messy. So messy.

Carolina announced on Tuesday morning that it had “given Cam Newton permission” to seek a trade, indicating also that regardless of whether or not a viable trade market exists for the 30-year-old former MVP, their franchise quarterback for the last nine years, they were ready to move on.

But saying they “gave him permission” made it seem like Newton asked for it. And Newton refuted the team’s version of things, commenting on the Panthers’ Instagram post that “he had never asked for this” (as their press release implied), saying that they “forced” him into this situation while begging them to not manipulate the narrative.

The split that seemed inevitable since the Panthers opted not to give Newton the ball with the game on the line, inches away from the end zone, in Week 2 of the 2019 season is coming to pass, and it feels ugly and messy and complicated in the ways that are difficult to unravel right now.

Pieces are starting to fall into place, of course. The Panthers are finalizing a three-year deal to make Teddy Bridgewater their new franchise quarterback. Bridgewater’s Saints ties with new offensive coordinator Joe Brady always made him a viable target in free agency, and as the world takes a surreal, scary, turn and facilities are shuttered due to international pandemic, Bridgewater won’t have to take as many steps to get familiar with Brady’s language.

Now, Newton is left to find his way. He’s left to figure out how he feels about all of this, too.

 

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I believe him when he expresses his love for Carolina; I believe him still. He meant something important here, to a whole generation of young kids who saw him towering above everyone else, saw him doing the things others couldn’t do, saw him get hit, go down, and get up again with a grin they could see even from the nosebleeds and thought, “Maybe this is what a real-life superhero looks like.” He meant a lot to people who, now, are screaming as loud as they can into a void, wondering why the organization they support hasn’t given any indication that it hears them.

But sometimes, I wanted to march up to Newton and ask, flat-out, “Why would you want to stay a part of this?” The Panthers’ roster is being rebuilt on the fly. They have elite talent on offense in Christian McCaffrey and DJ Moore, but an offensive line with patches lifted out of it. They have a defense with some extraordinarily concerning holes. They are not going to be good in 2020, and have lost a wave of fans — maybe not forever, but for now. The next year, or two years, or maybe three, will be bumpy.

So why would Newton want to be here, playing on essentially a one-year deal, having to do so much more than he should just to squeak out a handful of wins and maybe put up some good tape for other teams? That is, if the system didn’t once again crumble around him? That is, if he could stay healthy?

I can’t explain why he would want to stick around — and maybe right now, Newton can’t either. Maybe it’s just a feeling.

But from the Panthers’ perspective, moving on was always a binary inevitability. They have spent the last several months clearing out the roster, and the coaching staff, to make way for a new direction under owner David Tepper. After pieces started to tear away — Ron Rivera, Thomas Davis,  Greg Olsen, who also said the “mutual” split the Panthers projected on their social media channels wasn’t actually mutual, Luke Kuechly, Trai Turner — Newton seemed like the final box to check from the “old” regime, the old ways of doing things. Uncertainty about Newton’s Lisfranc injury recovery made things cloudier.

 

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For now, we deal with the band-aid that has had a slow, oozing peel over the past few months, as the Panthers and Newton’s camp picked at it bit by bit. From the Panthers, caveats offered by the people in charge — “if Cam is healthy …”. From Newton, deciding for surgery on his foot via a third party — and in that way, the ability to keep and manage his own medical records. Radio row interviews where he declared his optimism that the Panthers would keep him, and videos of him working out, looking healthy. From the Panthers, “I’m not a doctor. He’s not a doctor.” From Newton, “all I ask for is a little commitment.” From the Panthers, commitment from the head coach — sort of — then a polished, documentary-style video that served to reiterate the positive thoughts of the head coach, framed as “looking behind the scenes,” a week before the organization made it official that it was done with Newton.

So messy.

 

Joe Person: Carolina had a franchise QB in Cam Newton, will Teddy Bridgewater be a bridge?

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And a team source said the Panthers weren’t necessarily moving on from Newton if they failed to land Bridgewater (a source close to Newton said the quarterback had met several times with owner David Tepper recently and was under the impression the Panthers planned to keep him).

But Newton also posted recently that all he wanted was “a little commitment” from the Panthers. That would seem to suggest he wanted an extension, which — if I’m a former MVP who’s played in the Super Bowl and put fans in the seats every Sunday — I’d want, too.

For the sake of argument, let’s say Newton was willing to play the final year of his contract without an extension. If that were the case, why would the Panthers choose Bridgewater over Newton?

There’s no doubt a healthy Newton is a better option than a healthy Bridgewater. But Newton hasn’t been 100 percent for a few years. Even before the Lisfranc surgery on his left foot, there were concerns about what Newton had left in his right arm.

Bridgewater has the advantage of knowing Brady’s offense, which will look an awful lot like Sean Payton’s. That familiarity is huge considering NFL teams are facing delayed offseason programs and possibly truncated training camps in the midst of the coronavirus crisis.

Finally, there’s the matter of a fresh start. Someone in Newton’s camp predicted several months ago that Newton’s days in Charlotte were probably done: A new head coach would likely want a clean slate across the board, especially at quarterback.

That was well before the exodus started with Luke Kuechly’s retirement and continued through the release of Greg Olsen, the trade of Trai Turner and the roster churn currently taking place in free agency.

Out with the old, in with the new.

 

Alaina Getzenberg: Source: Panthers are finalizing a deal with free agent quarterback Teddy Bridgewater

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The new era in Panthers football is beginning

The team is finalizing a three-year deal with quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to come to Carolina from New Orleans, according to a league source with direct knowledge of the negotiations. The exact terms have not yet been agreed upon.

The move comes just hours after the team announced that it was seeking a trade for quarterback Cam Newton, who has been with the team for the past nine years and was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 NFL draft.

Bridgewater, 27, spent the past two seasons as the backup in New Orleans behind Drew Brees. During the 2018 season, he worked closely with current Panthers offensive coordinator Joe Brady, who was an offensive assistant with the Saints at the time. The new Panthers quarterback is certainly familiar with the NFC South. During his time behind Brees, Bridgewater started six games going 5-1, including going 5-0 in 2019 when Brees was injured. His one loss as a starter was to Kyle Allen and the Panthers in Week 17 of the 2018 season.

He was originally drafted 32nd overall in the 2014 draft by the Vikings out of Louisville. Bridgewater spent four years in Minnesota, but his time there as the starter was impacted by him missing the 2016 season with an ACL injury and other structural damages suffered just before the season began. His injury impacted his availability during the 2017 season as well and he ultimately became a free agent. After signing with the Jets in free agency that offseason, the Saints ultimately traded for him before the 2018 season began.

As a starter, Bridgewater is 22-12. He has completed 65.2 percent of his passes, thrown 38 touchdown passes and 25 interceptions and has been sacked 97 times.

 

Scott Fowler: Cam Newton deserved better than the Panthers gave him

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There was passion on both sides of the Panthers/Cam marriage. They saw each other through an MVP season; a lost Super Bowl; a fight with teammate Josh Norman; a car accident; multiple injuries and recoveries; a business decision to not jump on a Super Bowl fumble; dozens of “Superman” poses; Tennessee Mom; the clothes; the creation of the “Sunday giveaway” celebration and all sorts of fantastic community work.

And passion usually leads to pain. That pain is hidden better in the Tom Brady-New England breakup — announced on the very same day as this one — but it’s there. No matter how good you are, one day your old team doesn’t really want you anymore. Everyone is expendable.

Say this for Cam: He took the Panthers from irrelevancy to relevancy, and he did that from his very first two games as a rookie in 2011, throwing for 400-plus yards in both of them.

For better or for worse, Newton was a star who made everyone feel something. Now he’s feeling abandoned, and he will undoubtedly try to pull off a Steve Smith “blood-and-guts” redemption when he faces the Panthers on the field.

To be clear, the Panthers are actually making the correct call on the football field. Newton will likely find himself in a better long-term situation than on a team that just went 5-11 and is committed to starting over with Bridgewater and new offensive coordinator Joe Brady (who worked with Bridgewater with the Saints).

It just hurts, on both sides. And there’s nothing to do now but cut the cord.

Newton and the Panthers, once roped together so tightly, are only connected now by a single strand.

They never won a Super Bowl together. But they sure had some fun.

 

Plus here's a story on Bridgewater from Saints writer Larry Holder: ‘He has that winner mentality’: What Carolina is getting in Teddy Bridgewater

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The 2019 NFL Offensive Player of Year wouldn’t have earned the honor without Bridgewater’s play last season. And yet All-Pro wide receiver Michael Thomas could foresee what occurred Tuesday.

“He will be a starter in this league,” Thomas said not 10 minutes after Jordan’s comments in the Saints locker room. “It’s coming.”

The moment temporarily occurred last season. It seemingly will happen in 2020 instead of Cam Newton.

Here’s what you’re getting, Panthers fans.

“He still approaches the game right now as if he’s Drew Brees and he respects that fashion,” Thomas said. “He’s always trying to work on his game. He’s never trying to step on anybody’s toes or anything. From when he walked into the locker room, he didn’t try to divide or make anything uncomfortable. He just walked in here as if he was always part of us.

“I’m just excited for him and have so much respect for him as a person as he’s fought his way back to playing. He’s not this loud person, either. But he’s a guy you know is handling his business because of his actions. He wants to get better. He has that in him where he gets frustrated when he makes a mistake.

“I see a lot of qualities in him that he shares with our great Hall of Fame quarterback. I see those qualities in him.”

That was before Thomas ever played a meaningful snap with Bridgewater.

 

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steven8989 Newbie

steven8989

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2 minutes ago, an@rtistFKAmjl said:

Par for the course. never uttered a word of it until now either

How about u just eat crow and say he told u so. Everyone said Igo was wrong, guy from Roaring Riot that was close to situation was wrong. Guess what looks like they are right.

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