WS Chronicle

The Carolina Panthers are 5-3 on the season and were expected to have their star quarterback Cam Newton ready to return by now from his foot injury. Unfortunately for the Panthers, Newton’s injury did not improve the way he and the team had hoped.

Newton started the first two games of the season and the Panthers went 0-2. In his absence, Kyle Allen has gone 5-1 and has looked very solid as the starting quarterback for Carolina. It now appears that they will need to lean on Allen for the rest of the season. On Tuesday, the Carolina Panthers assessed the status of Newton’s injury and placed him on season-ending injured reserve after he visited foot specialist Robert Anderson in Green Bay, Wisconsin.   

Many players choose to opt for surgery to deal with an injury like this, but Newton chose not to go that route initially. Marty Hurney, general manager for the Carolina Panthers, indicated that Newton will likely continue the path prescribed by the team’s medical staff of rest and rehabilitation, which may take a significant amount of time for the injury to heal.  Without having the progress in his recovery that they had hoped for, he may have no choice but to have surgery.

With all that said, it is clear that Newton will not play football at all this season. A better question is whether he will play for Carolina ever again. If I were the decision-maker for the team, I would be inclined to move on from Newton, even though he has brought a lot to the team and the community.

I wrote a column last year asking if it was time for the team to move on from Newton. Even though he is only 30 years old and we know quarterbacks are now playing into their late 30s and early 40s, Newton plays more like a running back with his bruising style of play.

He has sustained several major injuries over the years that have seemed to take years off his career. He has dealt with ankle injuries, a rib fracture, a vertebral fracture, concussions, torn rotator cuff, knee injuries, a shoulder injury and now the foot. I am not sure if it is wise to invest in a quarterback with this type of injury history, especially since the team has some nice weapons on offense.

There are a few quarterbacks that will be available during free agency after the season, along with a few coming out of college this year that may pique the interest of the coaching staff. They have a solid defense, but players like Christian McCaffrey don’t come around too often. But I think the front office is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Newton obviously is a supremely talented player that if healthy, can lead the team to the Super Bowl, but his health is always in question. Does the front office roll the dice and see what they can get out of Newton for the remainder of his career, or do they find a quality starter elsewhere to lead the team? Who knows?

As I stated earlier, I would more than likely move on from Newton, mainly because I would have a win-now mentality. They have the requisite pieces to compete in the NFC South, but they need the proper signal caller under center to pull it off.

I am not sure Allen is an upper echelon quarterback, but there are qualified players out there. Additionally, I think they would receive a nice package of players and draft picks if they were to trade Newton to a team. He has tremendous value if he can get healthy, and I am sure there are a few teams that are willing to bet the farm on that.

I think Carolina will let this year play out, but they will have some hard decisions to make this offseason. I am not advocating for the team to trade Newton, but I will understand if they do.