Cam Newton isn’t ready to retire yet, but he hits free agency again this offseason with an uncertain future.
Greg Olsen and Thomas Davis retired as Panthers on Thursday, and owner David Tepper said the team will bring home Newton “eventually.”
No matter the awkwardness of Newton’s departure last year, the franchise hasn’t forgotten his contributions as they continue their search for his long-term replacement.
“He deserves it,” Olsen said of Newton, via Darin Gantt of the team website. “If there’s a list of people who love Cam and care for him and appreciate him, I’m at the top of it. I’ve said before, he’s the best thing that ever happened to my career. I don’t know if I have the career I had if not for the nine years I spent with him. He made me a better player. We enjoyed each other as people. We’re very different people, and I think that’s what made it so special and made our connection so unique.
“When Cam’s day is done, I don’t know when that will be, how many years from now, . . . when that day is come, if anybody has earned the right to have a day like today to recognize all he gave to this organization, putting this organization on the map nationally, it was him, it was Luke Kuechly, it’s guys that transcended being good football players, they were generational football players. He’s a guy who earned the right to get his send-off whenever that time comes. And there’s a hundred other guys that played with him that feel the way I feel about him. I hope that day we can all be there and give him the send-off he deserves.”
Newton made his career in Carolina, becoming the greatest quarterback in the team’s short history. He led the Panthers to a Super Bowl and won an MVP award.
The Panthers continue in search of their next franchise quarterback after failing to get MVP-level play at the position since that 2015 season.