Cam Newton was in the Panthers’ locker room Wednesday, a day after being placed on injured reserve. He didn’t have much to say in the open media access period.
“You all got all of the answers anyway. Y’all gonna figure it out,” Newton said, via Steve Reed of the Associated Press. “I haven’t talked to y’all in a month of Sunday. This a month of Sunday’s. I got nothing for y’all.”
Coach Ron Rivera was just as reluctant talking about his starting quarterback, who might have played his final game for the Panthers.
Rivera opened his press conference by referring to General Manager Marty Hurney’s statement from Tuesday.
“Yesterday, Marty’s statement pretty much tells the story of it all,” Rivera said, via video from the team. “As he says in the statement, Cam worked very hard and worked toward getting better. He went up and saw Dr. [Bob] Anderson, and he’s progressing. We feel right now probably the best thing was to put him on IR and move forward, and that’s where we are. I really do appreciate everything Cam does. I appreciate the fact he’s still here; he still wants to be around. He’s part of it, and he’s done a great job of doing that, so with that, I’d like to start talking about the Packers.”
Rivera did allow that it was a “collective thing decided on mutually.”
He would not entertain a question about whether the Panthers would consider Newton’s possible return for the postseason should the team qualify.
“Just so everyone understands, that question will not be addressed until it’s time to address. OK?” Rivera said. “So at the end of the day he’s on IR. All right? Kyle Allen is our quarterback.”
Newton must spend at least eight weeks on IR.