The rumor that won’t die has reared up once more in the wake of Sam Darnold’s concussion:
Could Cam Newton return to the Carolina Panthers?
Technically, he could. Realistically, he shouldn’t.
Newton, 32, is the best quarterback in Carolina history and a former NFL Most Valuable Player, and is a free agent after being released by New England in early September. The Panthers will likely have to do something this week at quarterback, because Sam Darnold sustained a concussion Sunday in a win over Atlanta and his status for the Patriots game this Sunday is uncertain.
But it shouldn’t be Newton. That would be a reach into the nostalgic past that wouldn’t work out well.
Panthers head coach Matt Rhule was asked directly about the possibility of bringing back Newton in his news conference Monday but declined to say anything.
“I’m obviously not going to get into hypotheticals,” Rhule said. “I’m going to see what happens with Sam today (Darnold was being checked by doctors). We’re just going to take that process one thing at a time, worry about him first and work out afterward.”
Many Panther fans would like to see a triumphant return for Newton, of course, and I totally understand that. Carolina fans had a close relationship with Newton for nine years, and for a lot of that time, he personified the Superman pose he liked to do after touchdowns. He was a showman and a showstopper.
But thinking about bringing Newton back is sort of like thinking about getting back together with one of your exes on some lonely late night.
You remember the good times. The way you met. The great road trips. The amazing times you had.
You conveniently forget all the reasons you broke up.
In this case, what happened was that Newton slowed down after the hundreds of hits he took over the years. He never was an incredibly accurate quarterback as a passer, but his athleticism and toughness was so remarkable it papered over many of his flaws. In 2015, he was deservedly the NFL’s Most Valuable Player, leading the Panthers to the Super Bowl.
But it mostly went downhill from there. Carolina has missed the playoffs every year but one after that Super Bowl. And Newton started getting hurt.
When his running ability started to dissipate, Newton became an average NFL quarterback.
People forget that in his final eight starts for Carolina, he went 0-8. He was a compromised player, and his one year in New England was unimpressive (8 touchdown passes, 10 interceptions and a 7-8 record as a starter). He lost that job to rookie Mac Jones this year, and no one has hired him since. That tells you something.
Newton has since gotten vaccinated since the Patriots released him, removing one of the obstacles for a QB-needy team to hire him. He wants to play again. Maybe he will be able to.
But as strange as it seems to say, career backup P.J. Walker would actually do a better job than Newton as the Panthers’ quarterback against New England on Sunday if it comes to that.
Walker has his own issues — he needs to take care of the ball better, for one — but he knows the plays and the personnel and he has a history with these Panthers.
Newton no longer does. There aren’t a lot of players on this roster who played with Newton at his best. And this isn’t his coaching staff — this staff is the one that released him, in 2020, after it couldn’t trade him — and the playbook isn’t written in his terminology.
A Newton return to Charlotte would start off with banner headlines and optimism. After a few weeks, it would devolve into snarky soundbites and pessimism.
The Panthers would be better served hiring or trading for a quarterback with less mileage and less baggage, to back up Walker until Darnold can return.
I hope Newton does get another job somewhere in the NFL. The Panthers should of course put him in their Hall of Honor and bring him back to Bank of America Stadium for that.
But not as a player. Not anymore.
