It turns out that during the 2016 season the Carolina Panthers benched Cam Newton for wearing a tie, but that the quarterback never missed a snap after partially tearing the rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder.
The Panthers revealed Tuesday that Newton will have surgery on his throwing shoulder on March 30 in Charlotte to repair an injury he sustained Dec. 11 in a home game against San Diego. The plan is for Newton to be healthy by the time training camp rolls around in late July.
But I will take that plan with a grain of salt, in part because the original plan was for Newton to rehab his shoulder with some R&R this offseason. Instead, after he rested the shoulder and started throwing again, things went south.
Said Ryan Vermillion, the team's head athletic trainer, to the Panthers' team website while discussing Newton's offseason: "As we worked to advance him into the next stage _ the strengthening stage, the throwing stage _ he started to have an increase in his pain level and started having pain while throwing. As a result, Dr. Pat Connor (the Panthers' head team physician) felt the most prudent procedure would be to arthroscopically repair the shoulder."
Obviously, this is not ideal. If Newton had had the surgery in mid-January, he would be two months into his rehab by now.
It is also not a crushing blow. Many NFL quarterbacks have recovered from rotator cuff surgery and played well. Drew Brees had his rotator cuff repaired more than a decade ago, as well as a more serious shoulder problem, and still plays at an elite level.
But what I wonder is how much risk the Panthers were taking when they allowed Newton to play in those final three games of 2016? Don't tell me there was no risk, because there's a risk every time you step on the field.
I know Newton is a very tough guy and that he never uses injuries as an excuse and always wants to play.
That ultimately doesn't matter, though. The Panthers obviously could have held Newton out if they wanted to. And remember, they were 5-8 by the time of those final three games and all but out of the playoff race.
It is also not unprecedented for a quarterback to play with a partial rotator cuff tear. Ben Roethlisberger and Brett Favre are among the players who have done so.
