It’s easy to imagine that Cam Newton and Jimmy Clausen had an awkward relationship at times with the Carolina Panthers. Going into Clausen’s second career season, the Panthers took Newton first overall to be the future of the franchise. At that point, it was clear Clausen wouldn’t be the long-term answer in Carolina.
Clausen also had something that Newton wanted when he first got to Carolina, the number two, which Newton had worn at Auburn. It made a rough first impression on Newton.
“I didn’t even want number one,” Cam Newton said while smoking a cigar. “Man, Jimmy Clausen, we cool now. Jimbo. He said, ‘S---, if you want, you’ve got to pay for it.'”
Initially, Cam Newton was cool to pay for the number, until the price tag came back from Clausen. Perhaps knowing that his future NFL earnings wouldn’t touch Newton’s, he asked for $1 million.
“I said, ‘Boy, kiss my a--, boy. I said $1 million, bro, I said people don’t make a million in a lifetime, let alone I’ll give you a million just a f------ number. So, I thought he was playing. The mother f------ comes back and said, ‘Okay, bro. I talked to my people. We’re gonna do it for $750,000.’ I said, ‘Oh, you’re for real,'” Newton said.
“True story. I hung that phone up and I called the equipment manager and said I’m rocking with number one. I made an oath to myself. That will be the last time Jimmy Clausen will ever be heard of in Carolina.”
It’s hard to say Cam Newton didn’t live up to his oath. In 2011, Newton was the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year and in 2015 he won an MVP. As for Clausen, he played a couple more seasons in Carolina as a backup before making stops in Chicago and Baltimore. He played in 21 career games with 14 career starts.
Cam Newton says Panthers haven’t set Bryce Young up for success in rookie season
First overall draft pick Bryce Young has struggled for the Carolina Panthers this season. Cam Newton thinks he knows why, too, explaining the Panthers haven’t set him up for success.
“No, and I see the receiver skill set, yes. You see the [Adam] Thielen, you see [DJ] Chark, you see the tight end there. But from top to bottom, for him, it’s not set up for him to be successful—especially not his rookie year, in my honest opinion,” Newton said.
“And, like I said, everything that Carolina is building—will they get to that point? Yes. In throwing him into the wolves and expecting instant success, that’s not the quarterback position, unfortunately. What I will say—it’s gonna take a season for him to kinda see the preparation, seein’ the tempo of the game, seein’ just in-game adjustments at its finest.”
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