Gerald McCoy greets Cam Newton. Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images

Gerald McCoy responds to Cam Newton slander amid Jalen Hurts controversy

Originally posted on Carolina Panthers on SI
By Mike Moraitis | Last updated Jul 26, 2025 12:00 PM ET

Carolina Panthers great Cam Newton has been taking a lot of heat from his peers lately.

It all started when Newton revealed that Philadelphia Eagles signal-caller Jalen Hurts wasn't a top-10 quarterback in the league.

Since then, former NFL players like Terrell Owens, Ryan Clark and Dan Orlovsky have criticized Newton, even going as far as to take shots at his infamous Super Bowl 50 play against the Denver Broncos when he didn't dive on a fumble.

Newton has since fired back, and especially at Clark, whose accolades he cited in order to show that Clark wasn't as accomplished as Newton was.

Gerald McCoy responds to Cam Newton slander

“People keep attacking Cam the person or why he didn’t jump on the fumble or why he didn’t do this or comparing and contrasting,” he said. “So when I compare and contrast you guys’ statistics … as we keep going and keep unlocking and keep poking the bear and y’all want to play this game, I can play this game, too.”

Newton's former teammate, defensive lineman Gerald McCoy, is now coming to his former quarterback's defense.

"Anybody talking bad about Cam Newton never played against him clearly. Especially MVP season. But these are times we live in. The time of discrediting. Look at how they doing Kobe," McCoy said.

When one fan took him to task about comparing Newton to Kobe Bryant, McCoy clarified what he meant.

"Discrediting somebody is discrediting somebody (I don't care) what you do," McCoy added. "You can be a janitor. If you have the highest grade by the health department for your work you’re the best and nobody can take that from you. Y'all weird man. I’m not comparing the players."

It is odd to see how up in arms Owens, Orlovsky and Clark have gotten over Newton's opinion, and how petty their reactions turned out to be.

It's nice to see McCoy coming to Newton's defense, but the former MVP is taking care of business just fine without him.

This article first appeared on Carolina Panthers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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