Panthers’ QB Cam Newton to Sit Out the Final Games of the Season

Cam Newton with the Panthers in 2017
Cam Newton with the Panthers in 2017. Photo by Damon Tarver/CSM/REX/Shutterstock

It looks like Carolina Panthers’ star quarterback Cam Newton won’t play out the 2018 season. Panthers general manager Marty Hurney told the media on Wednesday that Newton, who struggled with a shoulder injury in the past couple of weeks, will be inactive for the Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks. The 29-year-old is also expected to sit out the final two games of the season.

Four-year veteran Taylor Heinicke will step in for Newton, while rookie Kyle Allen will serve as his backup.

Still, this doesn’t mean that Cam Newton won’t step onto the field again this season. According to Carolina’s head coach Ron Rivera, Newton might play in the season finale against the New Orleans Saints if the team remains in the run for the playoffs.

He’ll be on the 53-man all the way through,” – said Rivera. “Crazy enough things can happen, and we’ll see from there.

We had the opportunity to visit with the doctors, the trainers and Cam himself.” – he added. “In talking with Marty and the owner [David Tepper], obviously we felt our best opportunity to win a football game was to have a healthy Taylor to start this week.

Panthers’ decision to rest Cam Newton comes after the team suffered a 9-12 defeat against the Saints, which got their playoff chances down to one percent. Newton struggled the entire game, completing 16 out of 29 pass attempts for 131 yards. He had one interception while failing to throw a touchdown pass.

Newton completed a career-high 67.9 percent of his passes in 14 games he played this season, throwing for 3,395 yards and 24 touchdowns. Additionally, he rushed for 488 yards and four touchdowns.

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