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The future isn’t exactly clear for Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. Newton landed on injured reserve earlier this year; the team has since gone 5-5 without him. Questions are mounting as to whether new team owner David Tepper will retain longtime head coach Ron Rivera and general manager Marty Hurney, so big changes could be on the way for Carolina.
One of those big changes could be a parting with Newton, the Panthers’ franchise quarterback. Newton’s year ended after foot injury lingered into the regular season, and his 2018 season was cut short with a shoulder issue. He was mightily effective on designed runs (gaining 5.1 yards per carry and averaging 38.4 rushing yards per game in his career) but the hundreds of extra hits he absorbed in that role have clearly taken a toll.
So it wouldn’t be a big shock if the Panthers showed Newton the door in 2020. It’s the last year of the five-year, $103.8 million contract extension he signed back in 2015, and cutting Newton would free up $19.1 million against the salary cap. That’s money Tepper could put towards finding his new quarterback or hammering out new deals for free-agents-to-be like linebacker Shaq Thompson (2020 class), running back Christian McCaffrey (2021), or right tackle Taylor Moton (2021).
During an appearance on the ESPN Daily podcast with host Mina Kimes, ESPN senior NFL writer Jeremy Fowler noted that he could envision Newton wearing black and gold some day, maybe as an heir for New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees.
“The wild card here is New Orleans,” Fowler said after discussing more-realistic landing spots like the Los Angeles Chargers or Chicago Bears. “Now, it would be unlikely, but one guy I talked to said Sean Payton secretly loved Lamar Jackson in the draft, and he loves that style of quarterback. Where you can get creative — you can run and you can throw and you can do whatever you want. And so, they’ve kind of experimented with that with Taysom Hill as a result.”
Hill’s usage on designed quarterback runs and passes off of play-action rollouts could be interpreted as a trial for new elements of the always-evolving Saints playbook, and it makes sense that Payton could be considering other prospects who can do those things while staying on the field as a conventional passer.
Hill could certainly be a candidate to do that, but it’s worth mentioning that he doesn’t have an edge over Newton as far as age (Hill is 29, Newton is 30) or health (Hill went undrafted back in 2017 after four of his five years at BYU cut off with season-ending injuries) are concerned. If anything, Newton’s extended NFL experience as a passer helps his case. Any further developments Hill makes on dropbacks will be in pursuit of trying to get where Newton already is.
Still, maintaining Newton’s versatility was something Fowler stressed, and he admitted that Brees’ continued high level of play could keep the Saints out of Newton’s sweepstakes should he become available: “So if you do Newton you’d have to be all in, and it’d have to be a successor situation to Drew Brees. But (if) Brees continues completing 74% of his passes or whatever it is now, it’s going to be hard to move on from him.”
Of course, it all comes down to whether or not the Panthers even let Newton hit the free market. If they are seeking to make a long-term change at quarterback, they’d like to do so on their own terms in a trade, and Fowler made certain that a deal between the two NFC South rivals isn’t happening: “And they would never trade him there (to New Orleans). So that would have to be an outright release where he’s let go, and the Saints work him out and they sign him to a big contract.”
It’s tough to say what happens next for the Saints quarterbacks. They’re going year-to-year with Brees, who will turn 41 in January and could retire at any time without creating a huge shock. Hill should stick around another year at least on a restricted free agent tender. Teddy Bridgewater won all five of his starts in Brees’ place this year and would be the preferred successor, but he’s likely to get an offer he can’t refuse in free agency. You would think if the Saints can afford to sign Newton to a big contract, they could do the same with Bridgewater, who has already proven he can win in their system.
Nevertheless, changes are coming, and it wouldn’t be impossible for Newton to end up joining the Saints should a few factors break the right way. Crazier things have happened in the NFL, and in New Orleans. Remember when the Saints took a shot on Brees, a virtual unknown and then-San Diego Chargers washout, just months removed from reconstructive shoulder surgery?
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