Josh Norman shares his side of infamous fight with Cam Newton at Panthers practice

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The 2015 Carolina Panthers season is infamous and noteworthy for plenty of things. The unbeaten start, Cam Newton's MVP award, and several individual plays, as well as their Super Bowl trip, stand out. There is one thing from before the season even began that also lingers in the memory.
During training camp, Josh Norman, the eventual All-Pro cornerback, and Cam Newton, the future MVP, fought. They went at it to close a practice session, and even to this day, it remains one of the most interesting moments from the year. Now, Norman has revealed what happened there.
As part of the Charlotte Observer's lengthy coverage of that 2015 team, they got Norman to reveal that he was tired of being targeted in practice. He wanted QBs to know they couldn't throw at him without consequences, even his own QB.
“I was tired of being hunted,” Norman said. “It was time to be the hunter.” So when he picked off a Newton pass, he danced his way into the end zone and pointed at Newton. That was ultimately what set things off.
Safety Kurt Coleman revealed that doing that was not appreciated. "The Cam that a lot of people do see is he’s smiling, he’s joking, he’s jovial. But he does not like to be made fun of.” Linebacker Luke Kuechly said that moment was "game on" for the two.
It ultimately did spur those two onto career seasons. Though Newton remained good, the Panthers' QB never quite reached MVP heights again. And Norman was a true lockdown cornerback, but he faded out after that season slowly and never reached that level, either.
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Zachary Roberts is a journalist with a wide variety of experience covering basketball, golf, entertainment, video games, music, football, baseball, and hockey. He currently covers Charlotte sports teams and has been featured on Sportskeeda, Yardbarker, MSN, and On SI.