Former Auburn star Cam Newton was involved in a scuffle with defensive back Josh Norman at the Panthers’ training camp on Monday.
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According to Jonathan Jones of the Charlotte Observor, tension between the two had been building over the first 10 days of camp and apparently reached a boiling point this morning when Norman intercepted a Newton pass while falling to the ground. Norman pushed back, and the two players eventually had to be separated by their teammates. Even though I blew the whistle, Josh kept going like he’s taught, and the offense continued to react. He’s well aware that Newton just signed a 3 million contract and is the face of the team. What happened was Cam got stiff-armed in the helmet, and that’s when it escalated. “… You look for the positive side of it. He stood up for himself”.
Throughout his five-year career, Newton has traditionally been good about getting out of the way of every scuffle in training camp, often playing the role of peacemaker.
“You know what, any opportunity to be out there, especially in regards to preseason games, I think is very important”, Matthews said.
Panthers center and team captain Ryan Kalil said “I’ve seen Cam do a lot more dumb things than that” and that he doesn’t worry much about the 6-foot-5, 245-pound quarterback. “He plays quarterback, but he looks like a big D-end”.
That Newton stood up for his self wasn’t something to be ashamed of, either.
Rivera said he hopes that players ultimately took from the incident that Newton is “like any of us”. “That’s our quarterback. We’ve got to protect him”. I’d love to get him back.
“As Cam said, there’s enough quality leadership on this football team that we know how to end things”, Rivera said.
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Rivera, who played nine seasons for the Chicago Bears, was asked if he’s ever seen a quarterback go after another player in practice. Rivera said he wasn’t pleased about the fight but that he understood it.
