One thing is sure in high-level quarterbacks: Cam Newton will remain Cam Newton. That means cigars, silk scarves, funky lettering in social captioning, and fedoras with the top cut out to showcase his locs. All that might open the door to a more significant issue, his lack of placement back on an NFL team roster.
Newton was asked about his hairstyle choice directly by NFL reporter Josina Anderson on her podcast this week, “Undefined with Josina Anderson.”
Anderson asked: “I just wanted to know do you ever feel like your way of dressing, you know your hair, the dreads, do you ever feel like it impacted you getting an NFL job, being accepted by a brand or just how you’re looked upon for employment to be the face of an organization?”
“It’s been hindered, and I’m not changin’,” Newton said. “This is one thing I do understand about my stance, especially with the NFL — it’s such a prestigious brotherhood fraternity. And whether I go back or not, I can always say I did it at a high level. Where I’m at right now in my life — do I need the NFL? No. Does the NFL need me? Hell no. And I think that understanding is the reason why I’m able to kinda be fine.
“But, yeah, people have hinted towards to say like, ‘Cam, we want you to go back to the 2015 clean-cut Cam.’ But that was a different me. Right now, where I’m at, it’s about embracing who I am.”
Then Anderson, who is Jamaican and understands elements of Rastafarianism like dreadlocks, got clear, asking the central question: “But did you ever specifically, like when you were vying for a job … that it might have been impacted by your look, the dreads or just your style?”
“There was hints towards it,” he replied. “And the thing that is always mentioned is, ‘Cam, you scarin’ people with how you look.’ And I would say, ‘Yo, like I’m not gonna name names, but there’s other quarterbacks that’s in the league that don’t look like me, but they got long hair. They don’t scare them, do they?”
“So, we can go tit for tat and tat for tit with it, but I would just turn and nod to that and say, ‘That’s not the reason why I’m not in the NFL.’ “
Still C-A-M
Newton’s last QB stint was in 2021 for the Carolina Panthers team he helped make famous. Newton also has been to the Super Bowl with the Panthers, Super Bowl 50 for the 2015-2016 season, a game where the team came up short against the Denver Broncos and Peyton Manning. Carolina released Newton after nine seasons before he joined the New England Patriots in 2020 for an unheralded stint that ended weirdly in 2021.
Since then, Newton has held a throwing session in front of league representatives at Auburn University’s pro day on March 21. He has been very vocal on social media about being willing to play backup for 11 NFL quarterbacks this upcoming season.
Perhaps Newton’s opinions have played a part in his lack of signing to another NFL team, as the QB is the perceived leader and usually the face of a franchise. The former MVP has caught off-field flak from the media for his past vocal views on women and relationships. Former players have highly criticized him, including analysts like Shannon Sharpe, who called him “one of those randoms … basing everything off what he was.”
Whether it’s his hair evoking a bias or his lifestyle, Newton does not seem to be on the radar for NFL franchises anymore, and he has to deal with it.
