New and improved Cam Newton?

[iknowcool]

Cam Newton is scheduled to throw at mini-camp tomorrow and the Panthers will be live-streaming it.  That is already a big enough deal considering there were concerns at the time of the surgery over how long until he would be ready, but by all accounts the recovery has went as smoothly as possible.  But there's bigger news than that which could make a huge difference in Cam Newton's long-term future with the Panthers.

A couple of weeks ago Tepper hinted that Cam Newton would come back different and it seems this is what he was alluding to:

https://pantherswire.usatoday.com/2019/06/10/panthers-cam-newton-throwing-mechanics-change/

NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Monday that the rumblings coming out of the organization suggest that Newton is set to “unveil” a massive change to his throwing mechanics.

“From what I’m told this is going to be more of an unveiling than anything else. I’ve talked to several people who’ve watched Cam Newton throw and they are pretty giddy,” he said. “One of them even telling me, ‘You’ve got to see this. You can not wait to see this.'”

If true and successful, this would be huge.  The ability has always been there with Newton and when he's on his game, not many are better.  He's just too scattershot sometimes and a lot of that has to do with his mechanics.  If the Panthers were able to get him to commit to a better throwing motion to help compensate for his shoulder, that would just make this offseason even better.

I have faith in Newton, always have.  I don't think he needs to be great this year either, and we don't need to ask him to be Superman like we have in the past.  This teams is seriously talented, we just need a consistent Cam.  

[Franck8666]

Well that's really feel like a publicity stunt for the organization more than anything, Newton must be 100% for a while to do this kind of social media spectacle. I don't really expect big changes from throwing mechanics though. 

[iknowcool]

On 6/11/2019 at 10:58 AM, Franck8666 said:

Well that's really feel like a publicity stunt for the organization more than anything, Newton must be 100% for a while to do this kind of social media spectacle. I don't really expect big changes from throwing mechanics though. 

This was kind of what I expected too but believe it or not, Newton's throwing motion is noticeably much improved.

NFL Network did a nice segment where an ex-player (blanking on his name) showed the difference between Newton's throwing motion yesterday and his throwing motion last year.  And there's also this throw today to Hogan at camp:

It's more compact/tighter to his body and it looks like he's using far less stress on his shoulder.  As a result, the release looks cleaner and faster.  This should (hopefully) lead to less batted balls at the LOS too.

Now, it's just mini-camp.  When the season is rolling and there is pressure in Cam's face, it's possible if not likely that he'll revert back - its natural.  But it is great to see the improvement so far, and even just protecting his shoulder on 80% of his throws would be a massive boon for not just us but him long-term.

 

[Franck8666]

I hope you're right and, as you've already mentioned, playing with pressure might make him reverse  it's old throwing motion, but I hope practice make him better then ever. I'm still thinking that the best Newton is when he's having fun on the field. His happy/taunting demeanor is contagious and it make the entire team better. It's also help him and it's confidence.