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Former Panthers Clap Back At Cam Newton For Harsh 'Losers' Comments About Team

Newton previously called the Panthers team that drafted him "a locker room full of losers."

Eva Geitheim

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton.
Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. / Chuck Cook-Imagn Images
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While trying to give some advice to top NFL draft prospect Travis Hunter, Cam Newton seems to have rubbed some of his old teammates the wrong way. As Newton provided Hunter with a reality check on potentially becoming the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, he also referred to his former Carolina Panthers teammates when he was drafted as "a locker room full of losers."

 "My issue is when I was the first pick, I went into a locker room full of losers," Newton said on The Travis Hunter Show. "Guys didn't know how to win, guys did not know how to prepare. It was a culture shock for me. The games don't mean a lot to a lot of people in the league like you would expect. It's just money. Not everyone has capabilities to be impact players, they're just players."

Former Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith Sr., a triple crown winner and two-time All-Pro who spent three seasons with Newton in Carolina, shared his disappointment with his former quarterback on X.

"I've watched & listened from a far as U Cam Newton talk about the Panthers!" Smith wrote on X. "None of us are perfect. Yes we were 2-14 before you blessed us w ur presence. The way you have talked about Panthers lately I'm very disappointed. I wish u nothing but the very best. I'm done !!!"

Former Panthers guard Geoff Schwartz, who played in Carolina from 2008 to '11, pointed out that the Panthers were a postseason team only a few years before Newton was drafted.

“A locker room full of losers who didn’t know how to win and who didn’t know how to prepare.” Oh boy," Schwartz wrote. "Sure we went 2–14 but the core of that roster also went 12–4 two years beforehand. Maybe it’s a tad more nuanced than “bunch of losers who can’t prepare."

Schwartz added: "Cam came into a locker room with a HoF WR, 2 OL and 2 RBs who either made a Pro Bowl and/or All Pro, two LBs who were All Pros in their careers, plus other high level contributors like Charles Johnson, Chris Gamble, Travelle [Wharton] and more … wasn’t a bum locker room."

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Eva Geitheim
EVA GEITHEIM

Eva Geitheim is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in December 2024, she wrote for Newsweek, Gymnastics Now and Dodgers Nation. A Bay Area native, she has a bachelor's in communications from UCLA. When not writing, she can be found baking or re-watching Gilmore Girls.

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