Auburn football legend Cam Newton’s opinion on player safety — which he shared in the wake of New England Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson’s injury due to a hip-drop tackle — holds more weight because of his own experience with dirty hits according to Musket Fire’s Sara Marshall.
“As a player who dealt with his fair share of injuries, but more commonly hard and illegal hits, Newton’s opinion on player safety should be taken more seriously than those who have never played the game in the NFL,” Marshall wrote. “It’s somewhat of a shocking realization that a tackle known for injuring players is still allowed, considering the countless other moves the league has banned that have been far more debatable.”
Newton sounded off on the December 6 edition of his 4th & 1 podcast about how defenders aren’t being taught the right way anymore; leading to the kind of hit Stevenson was knocked out of commission with.
“We’re not teaching the art of tackling anymore, where head up, run through your feet and get him down,” Newton said. “The hip-drop is they tackle and then they just sit down. Like, you can get your legs caught up under that sit and that’s where the hip injuries, the leg injures, all these injuries happen. There’s certain parameters where you can avoid, but that situation right there, we’re talking about player safety.
“And then people are going to say, ‘It’s football. We need to keep football football. Don’t play football then.’ But that’s still not to say we can’t keep it safe. Like, you can’t hit the dude in the back of the head even though ya’ll say ya’ll boxing. You have safety measures to keep players safe. And as a fan and just observant of this sport, it’s disgusting.”
Auburn football legend Cam Newton claims Panthers want Bill Belichick
Newton shared quite the juicy NFL rumor on his podcast, revealing that Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper wants to bring on Bill Belichick to replace the recently fired head coach Frank Reich in the offseason.
“I think Tepper, knowing what I do know, he is hoping he can land Bill Belichick,” Newton said on 4th & 1. “That right there will be a win-win-win-win for David Tepper.”
It’s unclear how connected still is to the Panthers brain trust’s line of thinking, but Newton has a unique connection to Tepper and Belichick having played for both. So if someone were to know about something like this, it’d be Newton.