While the Carolina Panthers are laser-focused on the offseason with the hopes of taking the next step in 2025, the franchise's former legends are involved in a growing beef.
Cam Newton and Steve Smith Sr. were engaged in a spat earlier in the week after the former said that he arrived in 2011 to a "locker room of losers." He was talking about the pressures of coming to a losing team as the No. 1 overall pick.
This wasn't received well by Smith. The star wide receiver was later joined by Captain Munnerlyn and Charles Johnson, who didn't like what their former QB said about them.
Instead of extending an olive branch to his former teammates, Newton doubled down on his criticism on Friday.
After criticism from former Panthers teammates, Cam Newton calls his "locker room of losers" remarks "aggressive but true." https://t.co/JuvqLN8OEg
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 15, 2025
Cam Newton Doubles Down on His "Loser" Remarks
On the latest of his podcast, Fourth and 1, Newton didn't apologize for his remarks and instead called them "aggressive but true".
"When did we become so sensitive? When did we become so sensitive to really speaking what the reality is? A locker room full of losers? Aggressive, but it’s true."Cam Newton
Newton added that he wasn't talking about any specific players and was referring to the locker room culture instead, which he called had a "loser's mentality".
While everyone acknowledges the fact that the No. 1 overall pick goes to a losing team, saying the quiet part out loud isn't a good look for Newton. The Panthers had finished 2-14 the year prior and improved to 6-10 and 7-9 in the first two seasons with Newton under center.
While Carolina failed to achieve the ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl, they had a sustained winner, with Ron Rivera at the helm and Newton as the quarterback. While he was perhaps the main reason for that success, Newton's way of saying that hasn't gone over well with fellow franchise icons.