Cam Newton made headlines for all the wrong reasons when he walked out on his post-game Super Bowl press conference, but he’s learned from his mistake.
Carolina Panthers teammate Thomas Davis says Newton “has matured” since that incident and understands what he must do as a leader and role model going forward.
“Cam understands and he knows that, in that situation, being who he is, being the role model that he is, he has to handle that situation better,” Davis said on Sirius XM NFL Radio. “And he’s learned from that, I feel like. Hopefully, we’re never in that position again where we’re losing the Super Bowl, but I definitely feel like Cam has matured since that point and he’s definitely going to be much better at handling different adverse situations like that.”
The backlash Newton received in the wake of his emotional decision to walk out was significant. Especially when, after the fact, he defended himself and said “I’m on record as being a sore loser.”
But since then, the veteran quarterback has changed his tune (more on that here).
In addition to his personal growth following a disappointing finish to the 2015 season, Newton is striving for growth on the gridiron. He said earlier this week that he has not begun to peak as an NFL quarterback and can “always can find ways to take my game to the next level.”
The Panthers have a tall task in front of them to match their 2015 season. They lost but one game during the regular season and were a Von Miller sack-strip away from potentially winning the Super Bowl.
Teams don’t typically dominate in a year following a Super Bowl loss (the exception being the Buffalo Bills). If the Panthers are to get back to the Super Bowl, then Newton’s maturation will likely have a lot to do with it.