Cam Newton will not return to the NFL in a backup role

Former NFL MVP Cam Newton has not drawn much interest around the league leading up to Week 1. A star with the Carolina Panthers earlier in his career, the former No. 1 pick has fallen on hard times recently due to a combination of injury issues and pedestrian all-around play.

This has not stopped the 33-year-old Newton from believing that he can still be a QB1. And in reality, that’s why he remains unemployed with just a few days before the NFL regular season kicks off.

According to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, Newton has drawn zero interest around the league primarily because teams know he wants to play and be a starter. That’s just not in the cards right now. Heck, a better quarterback in Jimmy Garoppolo had to return to the San Francisco 49ers as a backup to Trey Lance because he couldn’t find a starting job elsewhere.

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Cam Newton stats, major regression and bloated sense of self

An argument can be made that Newton has not been a starter-caliber quarterback since the 2018 season. He played in just two games with the Panthers in 2019 and has struggled big time over the past two seasons with the New England Patriots and during a second stint in Carolina.

• Cam Newton stats (2020-21): 63%5 completion, 3,341 yards, 12 TD, 15 INT, 78.2 QB rating

Sure Newton has scored 17 touchdowns on the ground during that span. But he simply has not been QB1 material since suffering through both a shoulder injury in 2018 and Lisfranc fracture in 2019.

Despite all of this, Newton still believes that he should be one of the 32 starting quarterbacks in the NFL today.

The question is now rather simple. Can Newton take one in the gut and come to the conclusion that he’s no longer a starting quarterback in the NFL? As a backup, he still brings a lot to the table. There will be a market for his services. Unfortunately, that just doesn’t seem to be the case right now for the former NFL MVP.