Bolts From The Blue
Jealousy can be a heck of a thing.
Following the Colts announcing the signing of 44-year old quarterback Philips Rivers, who ended his career in Indy after playing there in 2020, former MVP Cam Newton didn’t mince words about his thoughts on the move during a recent podcast appearance. Newton called it “almost like a slap to my face” and expressed that he felt incredibly disrespected that the Colts would think to call Rivers over him who is still almost a decade younger.
Newton also mentioned that he hasn’t officially retired and is still working out to stay in playing shape.
Here’s the thing: Even when both were still starting quarterbacks in the NFL during that 2020 season, Rivers was so drastically better than Newton that I’m legitimately surprised Newton is still this confident in his playing ability.
Rivers led the Colts to the postseason in his final season at an age older than Newton is now. Newton, on the other hand, was floundering in his second stint with the Panthers. He went 0-5 in his five starts for Carolina in 2021, throwing four touchdowns to five interceptions. He also didn’t even eclipse 700 yards passing despite playing almost a third of the season.
In the 2020 season as a member of the Patriots, Newton threw eight touchdowns to 10 picks. He finished the year with a 7-8 record. Granted he did rush for an additional 822 yards and 17 touchdowns over that same span, but obviously reality shows just how useful all those touchdowns were winning 33 percent of your games.
This whole thing is just ridiculous and Newton should know better. He knows what he did during his final two seasons in the NFL and he should know the league well enough to acknowledge why he slowly faded from the field in the first place.
The NFL world thanks him for the memories and the notable career he had. Beyond that, I don’t think he should be griping about who is getting a shot over who when the two guys involved couldn’t be further from each other as players.
