Panthers owner open to Cam Newton missing season if surgery is needed

Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper is thinking long term with his franchise, and he is open to the idea of Cam Newton missing all of next season if they determine shoulder surgery is needed.

Newton was limited by his shoulder for the second half of the season, which led the Panthers to go from 6-2 to losing seven in a row before finishing 7-9 on the season. They finally shut him down with two weeks left in the season.

Tepper spoke with the media on Tuesday and was asked to compare Newton’s situation with Andrew Luck’s. Luck missed all of the 2017 season while recovering from shoulder surgery and returned to have a successful 2018 season. Tepper thinks the tradeoff is worth it.

“If you told me he took a year off and could recover and be fully recovered and everything else, and that’s what it took, an extra year, why wouldn’t you do [that]?”

“Now we would have to do other things, right? We’d have to go out and get another quarterback. If you could find me some more cap space I’d appreciate that,” Tepper said.

Newton is only 29 and has been a league MVP. He’s a franchise quarterback and one you want to invest in. If it takes a season off to recover from shoulder surgery so Newton can get back to his MVP form, like Tepper says, that would be worthwhile.