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The Panthers need Cam Newton to bang the drum, but they won't get him

Cam Newton isn't coming back just yet.
Zach Roberts|
Nov 13, 2017; Charlotte, NC, USA; A football sits on top of the Carolina Panthers Keep Pounding drum before the game at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
Nov 13, 2017; Charlotte, NC, USA; A football sits on top of the Carolina Panthers Keep Pounding drum before the game at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

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Carolina Panthers

The Carolina Panthers are in the playoffs for the first time since the 2017 season, which is almost when things started to really take a turn for the worse.

They lost in heartbreaking fashion, and a few weeks into the 2018 season, Cam Newton took a punishing and probably illegal hit from T.J. Watt that messed up his shoulder. He was never the same, nor was the team.

But finally, there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel. At least for now, because the Panthers are going to host a playoff game for the first time since they went to the Super Bowl.

Someone will bang the Keep Pounding drum to hype the crowd before it. That person absolutely, unequivocally, positively should be Cam Newton. It just won't be.

Cam Newton highly unlikely to bang drum for Panthers playoff game

Cam Newto
Dec 26, 2021; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton (1) is introduced before the game at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

In the past, several high-profile people related to the Panthers have banged the Keep Pounding drum. Steph Curry did it at the Super Bowl.

Derrick Brown, Jonathan Stewart, Christian Fuchs, DJ Moore, TJ Olsen, Shaq Thompson, Corey Seager, Mike Rucker, Muhsin Muhammad, Sir Purr, Steve Smith, Luke Maye, and so many others have at one point or another.

This is the biggest home game since that Super Bowl, and there's a growing number of fans who would love to see Cam Newton take up the role this time. He was the quarterback the last time these fans saw home playoff action.

It would be perfectly fitting. He would get the fans going in a way no other person in the entire world could. It needs to happen. It's not going to.

Newton and the Panthers don't currently have a relationship. He has expressed his hurt feelings over how the team has treated him since his final exit, and the team has essentially responded by saying that Newton hasn't technically, officially retired.

The former MVP isn't going to file paperwork, but in the eyes of the NFLPA, he is retired. They view a player as retired if he has been "without a contract for one year after your last one ends." The last contract Newton signed was his brief return to Carolina in 2021.

That excuse doesn't really hold water, but the Panthers have no other reason to be shunning Newton. Either way, that's why it won't happen. Unless they've mended things behind the scenes, he's not going to show up at the playoff game as an official member of the team.

And it's highly unlikely that the team did all this to get him to bang the drum since there was never even remotely a guarantee that they would make the playoffs to begin with. As fun as it would be, Newton's probably not banging that drum this Saturday.

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Zach Roberts
ZACH ROBERTS

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.

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