Former Carolina Panthers quarterback and 2015 NFL MVP Cam Newton recently said that he inherited a “locker room of losers” in his 2011 rookie season. This prompted former Panthers wide receiver and two-time All-Pro Steve Smith Jr. to say that he was “very disappointed” with the way Newton was talking about the Panthers.
Now, former Carolina head coach Ron Rivera is chiming in.
“Sometimes things are better left unsaid,” Rivera said, via The Athletic. “I [would have] loved to have seen him (Newton) be a little more diplomatic just because a lot of those guys on that 2010 team became some of those guys that went to the Super Bowl in 2015.
“It’s unfortunate he made the comments, and now he’s just gotta live with them and own up.”
Both Newton and Rivera arrived in Carolina in 2011, as the former was selected with the first overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft out of Auburn and the latter was hired to take on his first NFL head-coaching position.
Prior to 2011, the Panthers had a respectable nine-year run with John Fox at the helm (2002-10), but it concluded with a 2-14 campaign in 2010, which led to the franchise going in another direction and ultimately hiring Rivera.
Carolina went a combined 13-19 from 2011-12, followed by a 12-4 campaign in 2013, which saw it earn a bye but then lose at home in the divisional round. Following a 7-8-1 campaign that saw them win the NFC South and a wild-card round game, Newton, Rivera and the Panthers put together the best season in franchise history, going 15-1 and winning the NFC before losing to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50.
In that 2015 season, Newton threw for 3,837 yards and 35 touchdowns, rushed for 636 yards and 10 touchdowns and won MVP honors.
Carolina missed the playoffs in 2016 and then rebounded with an 11-5 season in 2017, though they were eliminated in the wild-card round. They never returned to the playoffs with Newton and Rivera.
The Panthers released Newton after the 2019 season and fired Rivera after a 5-7 start to the season. Carolina went a combined 76-63-1 in the regular season and 3-4 in the postseason under Rivera, who has the most wins for a head coach in franchise history (1995-present), from 2011-19.
Newton went on to be the quarterback of the New England Patriots in 2020, but he was cut before the 2021 season; he then came back to the Panthers in 2021, appearing in eight games and starting five, which was the last time that he appeared in the league.
On the other hand, Rivera went on to be the head coach of the Washington Commanders from 2020-23. The franchise went 26-40-1 in the regular season and 0-1 in the postseason with Rivera, who they fired after the 2023 season. He recently took on a front-office role with his alma mater, the California Golden Bears.
Newton is Carolina’s all-time leader in passing yards (29,725), passing touchdowns (186), rushing touchdowns (63) and wins (68) and third in rushing yards (5,036).
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