Cam Newton got about as real as he could about his shoulder injury in a new YouTube video posted to a brand-new account on Thursday.
The video, entitled “What’s wrong with my shoulder?” is over 10 minutes and is extremely open, honest and revealing. It takes fans behind the scenes as Newton prepared for his recent shoulder surgery.
The Carolina Panthers quarterback opened up about how he felt “vulnerable” and “scared” because he knew his shoulder was not right.
“This persona that we play, you can’t show no signs of weakness. But I was weak, and I felt so vulnerable. I felt so scared. I felt so afraid because I know I wasn’t myself,” Newton said (h/t Panthers’ official website). “I didn’t know what was wrong with my shoulder. I just knew that it hurt, and I knew it was an issue. I couldn’t throw the ball no further than 30 yards, no lie. So I was trying to keep up with it as much as possible until the wheels fell off.”
That Newton’s shoulder was in bad shape was readily apparent to anyone with eyes to see — especially in the second half of the season.
“I felt like defenses [were] exposing me because they knew I couldn’t throw the ball downfield. Not being in the position physically to be able to make the throws that you know you’re capable of making, that was the most disheartening thing of the whole year.”
He completed a high percentage of his passes (67.9 percent) in his first year with Norv Turner as the offensive coordinator but was unable to push the ball downfield with any accuracy.
Thankfully Newton is on track to return for OTAs and should be a full go for training camp.
Now that the shoulder is healing up, Newton is using those who doubt him as motivation.
“Seeing the doubt, hearing the whispers of, ‘He don’t got it no more,’ fuels me. That’s what makes this comeback even more extraordinary. I feel this is going to make me even more dangerous,” Newton said. “When it’s all said and done, I can look back at my life and I know that this particular time in my life propelled me to this point and I’m excited for what the future holds.”
The Panthers are one of the teams we fully expect to take the league by storm next season after they missed in 2018. Newton coming back to full strength will be a big reason why.