Cam Newton Believes His Hair May Be a Reason an NFL Team Hasn’t Signed Him

Former MVP quarterback Cam Newton hasn't played a down in the NFL since 2021, when he started five games for the Panthers in an ill-fated return to the team that drafted him after a year with the Patriots.

Newton went unsigned in 2022, and the 2010 Heisman Trophy winner has an unusual theory as to why that is. On Undefined, a podcast hosted by CBS Sports's Josina Anderson, Newton suggested a relationship between his unemployment and the length of his hair.

"It's been hinted," Newton said. “And I’m not changing. People have hinted to where they say like, ‘Cam, we want you to go back to the 2015 clean-cut Cam.’ But, that was a different me.”

In 2015, Newton swept virtually every major offensive award. He threw for 35 touchdowns, ran for 10 more, and piloted Carolina to a 15–1 record and the NFC title.

However, Newton’s numbers fell off as he aged. The last year in which he threw more touchdowns than interceptions was 2018, and despite his continued cultural relevance, he hasn’t been able to regain the magic of ’15 with either Carolina or New England.