Former Heisman Trophy winner and 2015 NFL MVP Cam Newton recently caught a lot of blowback for comments made on his “4th & 1 with Cam Newton” podcast. That’s when Newton said that this year’s NFL MVP front-runners Brock Purdy (Niners), Dak Prescott (Cowboys), Jared Goff (Lions), and Tua Tagovailoa (Dolphins) are game managers who do what the game plan calls for and not much else.
While there were some who agreed with Newton, the take seemed to ruffle the feathers of many more. ESPN NFL analyst Dominique Foxworth (“Get Up”), chalked up Newton’s comments to him looking to get clicks and views for his podcast. The Fox Sports analyst then went overboard with this absurd take via X (formerly known as Twitter):
“Cam Newton you had a worse career than Dak Prescott.”
Newton Stands By Comments
After days of backlash and Newton seemingly getting what he was aiming for with his comments — a ton of interaction good or bad — the former dynamic dual threat took to social media late Thursday night to reply.
“Over the last 24 hours, there has been a lot of people who have had a lot to say about the comments I made on my sports show,” Newton said. “Some are true. Some are not so true. Some of it is objective. All of it is still opinionated at the end of the day. The thing I have a problem with is address the point I made, not me.”
“Game manager is a not a negative connotation,” Newton added.
Newton’s definitely correct in some ways, and when he broke down what he meant by game manager he mentioned a player who doesn’t hurt his team with turnovers, knows his limitations, and just does what the offense calls for him to do. In that regard Newton is correct about all four of the aforementioned MVP candidates. That’s what they all do, and there’s nothing wrong with that. That type of play has the four QBs teams a combined 38-14 and all four of their respective teams leading their divisions.
Newton Says There Are Five Current Game Changers At QB
After calling the NFL legends Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees the ultimate and elite game managers who were also elite game changers when needed, Newton then addressed today’s current QBs. Even then he said he only sees three to five game changing signal callers.
“There’s really only three to potentially five game changers in the NFL right now. Aaron Rodgers, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes.”
If you’re a real football fan you’d have to agree with this take. Those guys don’t need everything around them to have continued and consistent success. They also have shown the ability to overcome adversity and give their teams chances to win more often than not.
As for Newton, where does he rank? For many years Newton himself played the role of game manager. But when needed and called upon he definitely showed the ability to be a game changer, making him more than qualified to give this take.
