The Panthers have ended the weekly questions about Cam Newton‘s status, by shutting him down for the season.
The team announced the former MVP was being placed on IR because of the foot problem that has kept him on the sidelines since Week Two.
“For the past seven weeks, Cam has diligently followed a program of rest and rehab and still is experiencing pain in his foot,” General Manager Marty Hurney said in a statement. “He saw two foot specialists last week who agreed that he should continue that path prescribed by the team’s medical staff, and that it likely will take significant time for the injury to fully heal.
“We have said all along that it is impossible to put a timetable on this injury. Nobody is more frustrated with that fact than Cam. He’s one of the fiercest competitors I’ve been around during my 20-plus years in the league. At this time, we have decided that the best decision to reach the goal of bringing the foot back to 100 percent is to place Cam on injured reserve.”
While the timeline would potentially allow a playoff return, the Panthers are effectively in the hands of Kyle Allen for the rest of the year.
He’s 5-1 as the starter this year, playing efficiently except for the seal-beating he took in San Francisco.
The bigger question for the Panthers and Newton will be about his future, as he’ll be entering the final year of his contract in 2020, after two straight seasons which ended because of injury. That makes him just one of many questions about the future there, with little certainly about the future of Hurney or coach Ron Rivera either.
