Carolina Panthers: Cam Newton to Throw in Twelve Weeks
The Carolina Panthers gave a little jolt to their fan base by announcing a surgery for starter Cam Newton.
Cam Newton had surgery earlier this week to repair a partially torn rotator cuff in his right throwing shoulder. He should be throwing in about twelve weeks and will be back for the start of the season. What is interesting about Newton’s surgery is that this injury has been an issue since about week 14 of last season. That means Newton played hurt in the last two games of the season and the team knew about it.
The first response has to be relief. Newton did not seem to quite have the zip on his throw that he needs in order to succeed as a passer. There were interceptions against the Falcons and the Buccaneers that Newton doesn’t throw if he had been healthy. So Newton is not regressing mentally so much as he was beat up physically.
Second response has be a scratch of the head. Entering the Atlanta game, the Panthers had a slim chance of making the playoffs as a wild card team. After that loss, they were officially out of it. I even called for them to bench a number of people for the Tampa Bay game. Newton played in that game even though little was served by it. Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman could only comment that Cam wanted to play.
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Managing Newton is a little different than a normal quarterback. There are camps out there on what is best for Cam. There is the ‘he needs to run’ camp and there is the ‘he needs to not get hit camp.’ I think I fall somewhere in the middle. I would prefer to see Newton handle running like a big Russell Wilson rather than turn him into a running back who might burnout at age thirty.
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How good the Panthers do this upcoming year is still reliant on Newton. Hopefully the team puts enough talent around him that he won’t need to be as important to the offense as he is right now. In the meantime, the Panthers did sign Garrett Gilbert to serve as the emergency quarterback. The ex-Longhorn and ex-SMU Mustang will serve behind Derek Anderson and Joe Webb until Newton gets back.