What Should the Carolina Panthers do with Cam Newton?

With the placement of Cam Newton on injured reserved, his 2019-2020 season is officially over. After overcoming his shoulder injury in the offseason, Cam suffered a lisfranc fracture in the third preseason game. After many reports of Cam being okay, he was rushed back into the starting lineup and aggravated his injury week 2 against the Buccaneers. The “emergence” of Kyle Allen has put many speculations into the air about what Carolina should do with Newton.

For the upcoming 2020-2021 NFL Season, Carolina should insert Cam into the starting lineup and extend his contract. Here’s why:

Kyle Allen isn’t the long term answer:

Kyle Allen’s 3 interception day in a 51-13 loss to San Francisco.

Before I start this, in no way am I bashing Kyle Allen. As a Panthers fan, he is now the starting quarterback for the Panthers and he has my support for the rest of the season. However, the support that he has gotten from the national media has become toxic to the point where it could run Cam Newton out of Carolina.

Since Kyle Allen has stepped in, he has gone 5-1 and has thrown 9 touchdowns to 4 interceptions. He has also lost 6 fumbles. To the naked eye, that looks alright but as someone who watches every snap of every single Carolina game, the wins have masked everything that has gone wrong and everything that has gone in Kyle’s favor. In the 6 games Kyle has played, Carolina’s defense has become the league leader in sacks and became top 5 in takeaways. Kyle Allen also plays with Christian McCaffrey, the running back who is having a MVP caliber season while leading the league in scrimmage yards. I don’t want to be the one to say it, but Kyle has been carried by an MVP running back and a defense that puts him in great positions. Now looking at Kyle’s stats, he hasn’t played THAT well. Here’s a look at where Kyle ranks amongst 32 starting quarterbacks:

Completion Percentage: 60.7% - 30th

Advanced Statistics

QBR: 23rd

EPA/Play: 31st

Success Rate: 28th

Passing yards per game: 215.2 - 24th

Yards per attempt: 6.8 - 29th

Passer rating: 87.8 - 24th

Kyle Allen hasn't played well enough to make him the quarterback of your franchise with a team that is built to win now. With pending free agents and players getting older, Kyle isn’t the quarterback to put all your trust in.

Money isn’t an issue:

There have been reports about how Carolina could save $19.1 million by getting rid of Cam Newton. Cam Newton is currently 20th in the league for quarterback contracts. Some names ahead of Newton include Derek Carr, Nick Foles, Joe Flacco, Matthew Stafford, and Alex Smith. Compared to other quarterbacks, Cam Newton is on a budget contract and it would be a mistake to let your franchise quarterback go when your championship window is closing. With quarterbacks making up to $30 million a year, $19.1 million is a budget and Carolina shouldn’t think about the money.

It isn’t fair to Cam Newton:

Cam Newton after the week 2 loss to Tampa Bay. The game where he aggravated his foot.

Mixing family/emotion and business is never a good idea. However, with your franchise quarterback, you can’t just dump him. Cam Newton hasn’t always made some Panther’s fans happy, even when he was drafted, he didn’t have every fan on board. Cam hasn’t always played his best but dumping the quarterback who made games watchable and put his body on the line every play would be the biggest mistake the franchise has ever made. Cam Newton hasn't been healthy, large part because the head coach and medical staff failed to sit Cam down even when he wanted to play. It wouldn’t be fair to ship off your franchise player after he is spending his year and offseason getting healthy.

In conclusion, letting Cam Newton go will set the franchise back 10 years. Carolina will be in the 2021 draft looking for a quarterback if they decide to ship Newton. Letting Cam get healthy and extending him should be the priority for Carolina this offseason and any other decision would be dreadful for the franchise.