Carolina Panthers: Cam Newton Resumes Throwing for the First Time Since Surgery

Carolina Panthers Start Mini-Camp and Cam is Throwing

The Carolina Panthers opened their mandatory mini-camp today and the biggest story going into it was how will Cam Newton look following his shoulder procedure this offseason? Well, the wait is over.

At 8:45 a.m. Tuesday morning, the Panthers broadcasted the quarterback drills live on Twitter to show Newton’s brand new throwing motion. This past Saturday the Panthers and doctors finally cleared the 2010 Heisman Trophy Winner to resume throwing activities.

Following a strong start to the season with a 6-2 record, the Panthers went on to lose seven straight and finished at 7-9 and sidelined Newton for the final game of the season. Much of the losing streak was attributed to Newton’s shoulder injury, which many believed occurred during the 52-21 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on a Thursday night game.

Cam’s New Motion

One of the biggest reasons for the live stream was to debut Newton’s new throwing motion, as the Panthers had been hyping up the debut of his new mechanics since the team announced he would throw during mini-camps

Newton’s new motion seems to be about the same in terms of motion from windup to release, but the quickness and tightness of his motion appeared better than it did before the surgery. The video replay from the live stream from the team’s twitter account is below if you want to judge for yourself.

Also worth noting, While Cam is often considered to be the biggest player on the field, including amongst the linemen, Cam looked leaner than he has in past seasons. Granted he wasn’t wearing pads and was essentially in a practice jersey, but he looked healthy for the first time in what seems like two years. While he did look leaner, the 6-foot-5-inch quarterback still looks like he can run through an entire defensive line.

Carolina Panthers’ and Cam Newton’s Season Outlook

While the surgery seems to be a success so far, it remains to be seen if Newton will need more aggressive procedures in the future and require more of an Andrew Luck-style of recovery, which I’m hoping is not the case.

Cam will be starting his ninth season as Panthers’ signal caller and the team has only had a winning record three times during his time there, so the pressure will be on both him and Ron Rivera to put together a solid season.

The quarterback-coach duo has been successful together, with four playoff appearances and a Super Bowl appearance. Despite the success, the duo has never put together back-to-back winning seasons with the team. Including the last eight seasons, the Panthers have never been able to put together back-to-back winning seasons. in the entire 24 year history of the team.