Cam Newton has resumed throwing at practice and is on track to play in the first game of the regular season, but Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera is not ready to make a prediction about how the quarterback will perform.
After practice on Tuesday, Rivera told reporters Newton is still in the process of “taking steps” toward getting up to full strength and speed.
“He’s still taking steps,” Rivera said, via David Newton of ESPN.com. “You really won’t know ’til the opener. Just the way it is. Nobody knew what he would be like his rookie year. That’s kind of how this is going to be. We won’t know until we open up in San Francisco.”
Newton underwent surgery to repair a partially torn rotator cuff on March 30. He recently had to take some time off from throwing because of soreness he was experiencing, so the Panthers are being careful with him.
“You do what you have to do,” Rivera added. “He’s on track. He’s done some good things. But every day you wake up every morning wanting to make sure he’s fine. He’s done everything we’ve expected so far, so going forward we’ll see.”
The Panthers want Newton to be at 100 percent strength after he played hurt last year. The 28-year-old posted a career-low passer rating of 75.8, and his shoulder injury almost certainly had a lot to do with that. The last thing Carolina wants is to push it by playing Newton in the fourth preseason game.
Judging by what Newton recently said about his shoulder, Panthers fans should not be all that worried. If he’s anywhere close to as good as he was in 2015, Carolina should be in for a bounce-back year.
