Cam Newton was expecting to be back to normal a lot sooner. However, offseason ankle surgery has proven more difficult to overcome, causing the quarterback to have a slow start to the season. The Carolina Panthers currently sit at 2-2 on the year, but Newton certainly has not looked his normal, mobile self through four games. With a big matchup against the Chicago Bears coming, what is to be expected of Newton over the next couple of weeks?
Newton is seven months out of surgery, but is still feeling the lingering issues from the surgery. While the quarterback has looked strong as a pocket passer, he has lacked the mobility, causing him to rush the ball just eight times this season. The real issue is the offensive line of the Panthers which is currently struggling causing Newton to get sacked nine times so far. He also has gone seven games without a rushing touchdown which is the longest drought in his career.
"We kind of teased about it a couple weeks ago, how the doctor kind of downplayed how the surgery was going to go. I just thought this was a surgery just to clean up the ligaments and what not," Newton said, per the Charlotte Observer. "But after reading a lot of reports from you guys, hearing about so much of ligament repair and this major ankle surgery that may hold Cam Newton off for a couple months, that's when I started scratching my head like, man, this may be bigger than I thought. And something I thought may have a cast on for a couple weeks end up to be a couple months."
To make matters worse, Newton suffered a rib injury that has slowed is recovery down even more. Head coach Ron Rivera notes that the cracked ribs were certainly not part of the plan in Newton's recovery process and an extra element the team has had to deal with. The quarterback notes that neither injury is playing a part in his mental approach to the game.
"I'm still in that mode where trying to realize that I'm still trying to recover from a major ankle surgery that was displayed to me originally as a regular little cleanup," Newton said. "But I'm glad it happened. My ankle is getting back and feeling stronger than ever. And hopefully I will be able to display my running talents here soon. If that means my running makes a big impact on the game, who knows?"
The wide receivers are benefitting from Newton's healing ankle. The quarterback has a 63.8 completion percentage while his 98.2 quarterback rating is a career-high average. Kelvin Benjamin's fantasy value is very high right now despite his rookie status as Greg Olsen continues to put up solid numbers. With DeAngelo Williams out with injury, players like Jonathan Stewart and Mike Tolbert should also get plenty of playing time.
