The Panthers’ pursuit of Cam Newton started late Tuesday night in Scott Fitterer’s second-floor office at Bank of America Stadium. Several of the team’s top decision-makers were gathered, and there was serious business to discuss:
The Panthers needed a quarterback.
Two days of MRIs and CT scans on Sam Darnold’s throwing shoulder revealed an incomplete fracture of Darnold’s scapula. The Panthers would have to put their struggling quarterback on injured reserve, with an estimated recovery time of four to six weeks.
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The Panthers had already moved to sign Matt Barkley off Tennessee’s practice squad to serve as an emergency quarterback. And they would soon start preparing former Temple quarterback P.J. Walker to start Sunday’s game at Arizona.
But with the NFL’s second-ranked defense and an offense that had just gotten All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey back from IR, the Panthers (4-5) wanted a veteran quarterback with some juice to breathe life into a sagging offense, energize a turned-off fan base and keep the team’s playoff hopes alive.
Fitterer, the first-year general manager, discussed the options with head coach Matt Rhule, assistant general manager Dan Morgan, vice president of player personnel Pat Stewart, and Rhule’s assistant, Matthew Delgado. The discussion turned to Newton, one of the most iconic players in team history whom the Panthers released two months after Rhule was hired in 2020.
“We were just talking about options we had, and what’s the best thing for us moving forward,” Fitterer said. “From there, it went from a conversation to a phone call just to gauge interest.”
Rhule walked down the hall to his office to call Newton, who’d reportedly drawn interest only from Seattle and Houston since the Patriots cut him in August after rookie Mac Jones won the starting job. After arriving from Baylor, Rhule would bump into Newton at the stadium occasionally when Newton was recovering from foot surgery.
“After we talked and deliberated, I went to my office, got on the phone and called,” Rhule said. “Asked him if he’d have any interest in coming back to the Carolina Panthers. He emphatically said yes. He and I had a good conversation. We decided to let his representatives and Scott and our people here start to work out a deal.”
In February, Newton told the “I Am Athlete” podcast he thought he intimidated the Panthers’ new regime, and there have long been rumblings that Newton’s super-sized presence was viewed as a poor fit for a new coach turning over a roster that was the NFL’s youngest in 2020.
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But Rhule said the decision to release the 2015 MVP was rooted in Newton’s health. Specifically, the Panthers were concerned about Newton’s throwing shoulder — which had been surgically repaired twice — more than his foot. Newton played only two games in 2019 before a second opinion revealed a Lisfranc fracture, which required surgery in December of that year.
“We made a football decision at the time, based on his health. We weren’t sure what his health was. Cam understands that. Cam understands these are football decisions and football-based evaluations that you have to make,” Rhule said.
“There wasn’t anything but an amicable conversation (Tuesday night),” Rhule added. “Cam and I did spend two months together. He was here in rehab and treatment trying to get his shoulder right. I did see him several days a week. So I did have a good feel for who he is.
“Besides his talent, I know that he’s a competitor. I know that he’s tough. He’s everything that I believe and talk about. But at the time we weren’t sure if he’s healthy. Well, he’s healthy now.”
Cam Newton (Bill Streicher / USA Today)
While the Panthers had their first practice of the week Wednesday, Fitterer spent much of the day talking with Newton’s representatives trying to work out a contract that made sense for both sides. By Wednesday night the talks had escalated.
“(Wednesday) night, we started talking money. We said, ‘OK, if this is gonna happen, here’s kind of the ballpark that it’s gonna be,’” Fitterer said. “We talked about the contract a little bit. It wasn’t an easy discussion to have. But we worked through that. And once we got that fairly right in the ballpark, then we set up a flight for him to come up.”
The Panthers were bidding against themselves, but Newton’s side knew the Panthers were vulnerable, given their need at quarterback. Several scenarios were discussed before they landed on a one-year deal that would pay Newton a guaranteed $4.5 million for eight games, with a signing bonus of $1.4 million and incentives that could push the total value to $10 million.
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“To be able to come off a few of those (multiyear proposals), we upped the money this year to make it more of a one-year deal,” Fitterer said. “Really the one-year was the one that best fit us, as well as Cam at this time.”
While player negotiations director Samir Suleiman handled the talks with agents Chitta Mallik and Tony Paige, Rhule started watching tape of Newton from 2020 and this year’s preseason games. In an exhibition against the Eagles, Newton completed 8 of 9 passes for 103 yards and a touchdown.
Fitterer, then with the Seahawks, was at the Week 2 game last year when Newton completed 30 of 44 passes for 397 yards and running for another 47 yards on 11 carries. Newton accounted for three touchdowns that night but was stopped on a goal-line run in the final seconds of Seattle’s 35-30 win.
“He had a great game. He was such a dynamic runner. He can make throws, short to intermediate. So we liked all those things about him,” Fitterer said. “And then we came back (to) this year and we looked at the tape, and he looked good.
“He’s not Cam from 10 years ago, but he’s Cam now. It’s someone that can fit our offense. I know Joe (Brady) can adapt his scheme to his skill set, and that’s what we’re gonna do.”
The Panthers sent a private plane to Atlanta on Thursday morning to fly Newton and his father, Cecil, to Charlotte. The two were picked up and driven to owner Dave Tepper’s home in the SouthPark area in Charlotte, where they sat down with Tepper, Fitterer and vice president Steven Drummond.
With an agreement already in place, the meeting was a chance for Newton to meet Fitterer, who was hired in January, and reconnect with Tepper.
“We had a really heartfelt, sincere discussion,” Fitterer said. “It wasn’t really about anything in the past. It was more about, what are we gonna do now moving forward and what is Cam’s role?”
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By midmorning, news of the meeting had become public, with The Charlotte Observer the first to report it. Shortly before noon, The Athletic reported the expectation was a deal with Newton would be finalized by Thursday afternoon. A half-hour later, the Panthers announced Newton had agreed to terms and tweeted out a photo of Newton — wearing one of his signature hats — standing with his arm around Tepper outside Tepper’s home.
Together again 😀 pic.twitter.com/PXGaVTvvZX
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) November 11, 2021
Tepper has yet to experience a winning season since buying the team in 2018 and spoke strongly in December about the need for a franchise quarterback. And though Tepper was consulted on the Newton signing, Rhule and Fitterer said it wasn’t an owner-driven decision.
“Sometimes I think you guys don’t necessarily believe that, but Dave leaves the football to us,” Rhule said. “With a big issue like this, obviously we’ll consult him and he has amazing perspective. I can’t think of anyone I’d want to talk money with more than Dave, or process more than with Dave Tepper. So he’s a functional part of everything that we do. But he trusts us to make decisions and Scott executed the rest of it.”
Rhule talked with Newton on the phone before the Panthers’ Thursday practice, and Newton was getting his physical when Rhule met with the media. Several players discussed the significance of bringing the 32-year-old Newton back to Charlotte, including Stephon Gilmore, who grew up in nearby Rock Hill, S.C., and played with Newton in New England.
“There’s a lot of important people in South Carolina and North Carolina. But Cam Newton is probably up there in top 2, top 1,” Gilmore said. “A lot of people are going to be excited to come back and see him play, and run around and make plays.”
By the time Fitterer addressed reporters around 4:40 p.m., Newton had passed his physical and signed the contract in Suleiman’s office.
“So, everything’s a go,” Fitterer said.
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A (re-)introductory news conference is expected Friday after the Panthers’ walk-through. Rhule said backup quarterback P.J. Walker would start Sunday, and indicated Newton probably wouldn’t play until next week at the earliest.
“I’d like to at least see him first (and) practice with him first in terms of how we’ll utilize him,” Rhule said. “We have to get him up to speed. I can’t say when that’ll happen.”
Considering only 14 players remain who played with Newton during his first stint with the Panthers, some of the new guys will have to get used to the vibe he brings to practice.
“We’ve got a whole new locker room that don’t know who Cam is,” said receiver DJ Moore, who caught passes from Newton last summer when he was in Atlanta.
“They could just see him running around the field listening to music as hype, as something silly. But that’s really just how he gets himself going. Not knowing that, it could rub off on them a different way.”
Rhule said the Panthers didn’t sign Newton to sell tickets or energize the fans, “though it’s great that it does.” The Panthers see an opportunity to make the expanded playoff field in the NFC, where there are a bunch of three- and four-win teams that look like they’ll be fighting for the last wild-card spot.
“Cam Newton is a winner. I know he can help us win. A healthy Cam Newton is an excellent player, a special player,” Rhule said. “You don’t do things to make people happy because then you have old teams with big names, and you don’t win. The best teams in this league make disciplined decisions. This is a disciplined decision.”
It might not work. Newton may prove to be an expensive rental who can’t throw the deep ball and has trouble staying healthy. Or maybe there’s still some magic left in the right arm and legs of No. 1. Either way, the events of the past couple of days will make the last two months of the season more interesting.
“This,” Rhule said, “is all a journey that’s coming to a fitting end.”
(Top photo: Chanelle Smith-Walker / Carolina Panthers)
Joe Person is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Carolina Panthers. He has covered the team since 2010, previously for the Charlotte Observer. A native of Williamsport, Pa., Joe is a graduate of William & Mary, known for producing presidents and NFL head coaches. Follow Joseph on Twitter @josephperson
