You didn’t have to be watching the livestream of Cam Newton throwing short passes during minicamp to know he needed some work on his mechanics.
All you needed was to watch him last year, as his shoulder began bothering him and he tried to compensate in ways that weren’t really effective.
But after shoulder surgery in January and time to rest and rehab, he was back on the field throwing to stationary targets on Tuesday.
“If you go back and look at a lot of things that happened before he started having shoulder issues, you can see the improvement, you can see the footwork, you can see the whole development of him,’' Panthers coach Ron Rivera said, via David Newton of ESPN.com. “As the shoulder started to go, then you saw everything fall by the wayside. Now you get an opportunity to go back, rework those things, do the things he needs to do to improve. He’s done a great job.”
So while there were breathless reports about major changes to his mechanics, it’s not like he was throwing left-handed or underhand, he was just back to doing things he was able to do when he was well.
Tuesday, that meant about five passes during quarterback drills, and a few more later when special teams drills were happening. None of them were more than 15 yards. And while he didn’t talk to reporters, he was talking to those around him.
“You guys could hear he brought a little energy,” Rivera said. “That really helps when he’s involved in the practices.”
And being well enough to throw normally doesn’t hurt either.