Former NFL quarterback Cam Newton ruffled some feathers with his recent comments about a few of the league’s top signal-callers.
In a recent episode of “4th & 1 with Cam Newton,” the former MVP explained why he views quarterbacks Brock Purdy (49ers), Tua Tagovailoa (Dolphins), Jared Goff (Lions) and Dak Prescott (Cowboys) as “game-managers” and not “difference-makers” for their respective teams.
“They’re not winning because of him,” Newton said of Purdy, whose team currently holds the top seed in the NFC. “He’s managing the game.
“If we were to put that in its own right as game-managers, this may ruffle a lot of feathers but it’s honest, Brock Purdy, Tua Tagovailoa, Jared Goff and, really, Dak Prescott.
“These are game-managers. They are not difference-makers.”
ESPN NFL reporter Kimberley A. Martin ripped Newton’s analysis.
“In the year of 2023 where it’s all about NFL backups, where is Cam? Not on an NFL roster, right?” Martin said on “Get Up” on Wednesday. “He’s talking about all of these NFL game-managers.
“He sounds like the people literally tweeting at me from their basement like, ‘Get back in the kitchen.’ Like you are at home, watching me.”
Newton, the 2015 NFL MVP with the Panthers, has not played in the league since 2021.
Newton, 34, recently said he has not heard from an NFL team in two years.
ESPN contributor Domonique Foxworth added that Newton is only saying “wild stuff” to make headlines.
“He wants you to download, rate and review, he’s saying some wild stuff so he can get on ‘Get Up,’” Foxworth said. “So, please do that man a favor because that’s absurd. Dak Prescot? When he said Dak’s name, I was like, ‘He’s telling jokes right now.’”
During his “4th & 1” show, Newton named Christian McCaffrey, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill as NFL difference-makers.
“They’re impacting this game in the only way that they know how,” he said.
Newton explained that players such as Purdy, Tagovailoa, Goff and Prescott aren’t asked to win games for their team, but to instead not lose the game.
“If we’re going to really call a spade a spade, there are difference between managers of a game and difference-makers of a game,” Newton said. “That’s not to say that they can’t win the MVP, but it just is what it is.
“If I were to say a game manager to win the MVP, has to be Jared Goff because he means a lot to the Detroit Lions.”
Newton also acknowledged that some will say, “Oh, it’s just Cam” talking.
“No, bro, this is honest talk,” he said. “This is understanding that they can still, as a game-manager, they can still win the MVP, but a game-manager is different than a game-changer.”
Purdy, Tagovailoa, Goff and Prescott all have their teams in first place entering Week 15.
Purdy — the 262nd and final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft — leads the NFL in passer rating (116.9), QBR (74.2), completion percentage (70.2) and yards per pass attempt (9.9) in his first full season as the starter.
The 23-year-old signal-caller has the second-best odds to win MVP, trailing only Prescott.
Prescott is having a career year after being labeled a turnover machine last season.
His interception rate is down to 1.3 percent, which is the lowest since his rookie year.
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