Despite not having a fitting end to his career, it’s undeniable that Cam Newton was a trendsetter in many ways. From his refreshingly flamboyant personality to being a prototype for the modern-day dual-threat QBs, Newton has always strived to be unique. His latest anecdote from his rookie days further enforces this belief.
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In the latest episode of Newton’s “4th&1” podcast, the former Panthers QB shared a character-defining incident between him and his former Coach Mike Shula. As per Newton, Coach Shula in the beginning would always ask him to look up to the greats and emulate them.
Shula would tell the youngster about the qualities of the greats of the game in a bid to mould Newton’s game that way. But the former Panthers QB had a very clear plan of protecting his individuality from his rookie days itself.
Hence, he had to “check Shula’s a*s” and let him know that he wants to be himself. Newton revealed,
“I had a conversation with my coach Shula [back in the day] but I had to check his a** early in my rookie season [because] he would always make comparisons. Like Peyton Manning was this, Tom Brady is this, Drew Brees is this, this person is that but I’m like, ‘Coach, respectfully, I don’t want to be them… I want to be me.’”
While he was able to let Coach Shula know his thoughts, Newton still didn’t find acceptance for being himself in the initial part of his NFL career. Despite that, he went on to create a niche for himself that made him a star amongst the Panthers faithful. The former NFL star was proud of this fact and reminisced about this on his podcast.
Cam Newton takes pride in being a visionary quarterback
After recalling his Mike Shula story, Newton instantly switched gears as he reminisced about facing flak for being a team-tempo player despite playing as a QB. But for Cam, these comments from his peers didn’t affect him because he knew that none of his naysayers had his unique ability.
The former Panthers star then went onto flex that it was this ability of his that helped him carve a cult figure with the Carolina Panthers.
“They say we’re not used to quarterbacks being the team tempo player… I would love to always ask questions about guys who played me the year before, [and ask them] to get a self scout… The main thing that kept being said was we have to stop Cam, not Cam and scoring because how Cam Newton goes is the way Carolina Panther goes.”
All said, Cam Newton must get his flowers for massively shaping up the role of a dual-threat QB in the NFL. Newton walked, so that the likes of Lamar Jackson could run.
