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Former Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton has become known for controversial statements. His recent assertion that he would take his MVP Award over a Super Bowl win certainly rubbed some folks the wrong way. But Cam’s comments on the state of the Panthers prior to his arrival caused some of his former teammates to clap back.
Newton appeared on Heisman winner Travis Hunter’s show to discuss being a number one pick in the NFL – as Hunter has an opportunity to be selected first overall in the upcoming draft. “You’re the top pick because that was the worst team in the NFL the year before,” Newton explained, per Joseph Person of The Athletic.
“My issue is when I was the first pick, I went into a locker room of losers. Guys didn’t know how to win. Guys didn’t know how to prepare… They didn’t take themselves serious to realize, like, ‘Yo, we was 2-14.’ There was a lot of 2-14 in the mentality of those guys,” Newton, for some reason, said.
As Cam alluded to, the Panthers finished 2-14 in 2010, which allowed the team to pick first overall in the 2011 draft. And Carolina selected Newton fresh off a remarkable college season in which he led Auburn to an SEC Championship and a National Championship while securing the Heisman Trophy.
However, Newton’s comments about the 2010 Panthers being “losers” did not sit well with those players. Several members of that team, including wideout Steve Smith Sr., defensive end Charles Johnson and defensive back Captain Munnerlyn, expressed their disappointment with Cam’s characterization.
“For him to say that we was losers was a slap in the face,” Muunerlyn said, via The Athletic. “He just wants to still be relevant. He don’t have to do all that to be relevant. You’re freaking Cam Newton, bro. You changed a franchise. You’re probably one of the biggest players that’s played here… So you don’t have to do all this other stuff, man. You’re already 6-6, 200-whatever pounds. You don’t have to do that to be relevant, bro. You’re freaking Cam Newton.”
Newton would win Offensive Rookie of the Year with the Panthers in 2011 and the team would steadily improve, eventually achieving a 15-1 record in 2015. That year Carolina played in the Super Bowl against the Denver Broncos and Newton won league MVP. However, that’s as good as it got. Newton had a rough game against Denver, completing just 18/41 passes and turning the ball over three times as the Broncos won 24-10.
Smith Sr. and Muunerlyn were no longer in Carolina by 2015 but the Panthers selected another iconic player one year after taking Newton in linebacker Luke Kuechly. Kuechly had 10 tackles and a sack in a losing effort in Super Bowl 50. He missed out on reaching the Hall of Fame in his first attempt in 2025.
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