It was popular sport to make fun of Cam Newton before he was drafted, when he stumbled over Jon Gruden’s mouthful of play-calls on a television show.
But Newton admitted that the Panthers were asking too much of him in his early years, and that he feels much more comfortable now.
Newton told former General Manager Marty Hurney on his radio show on ESPN 730 that things were overcomplicated under former offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski.
“It kind of was a learning curve, especially when you was here, with having coach Chudzinski,” Newton told Hurney, via Black and Blue Review. “He opened the floodgates with material right from the jump. I didn’t like it then because coming from a hand signal philosophy from Auburn, it was kind of force-feeding a kid with carrots. I didn’t want to learn it, and I was always trying to complain about the workload.”
Newton still piled up big numbers, and it helped Chudzinski get the Browns head coaching job (at least for a year), but it was a lot of pressure on the young quarterback.
“It was too much. ‘Y’all putting in too many plays. We only can run one play!’” Newton recalled saying then. “Me and coach Chudzinski were always butting heads with the workload because I came from a system that was look to the sideline and play — fast. Make plays.”
Of course, some folks realized that Chudzinski was making it more complicated than it had to be at the time, but Newton being so candid about it now underscores how bad it was.