Cam Newton is officially going to be the Carolina Panthers' starting quarterback when they face the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1 of the regular season. Panthers head coach Ron Rivera made the announcement following the team's final preseason game following an interesting preseason battle between Newton, a rookie who played for the Auburn Tigers last season, and Jimmy Clausen.
Cam Newton To Start Season Opener For Carolina Panthers
Newton started the final three games for the Panthers, completing 24 of his 57 passes while throwing for a touchdown -- capping off a solid drive on Thursday night -- and rushing for another. Those statistics aren’t exactly eye-popping, but Rivera made it clear he doesn’t expect Newton to be the greatest thing since sliced bread quite yet.
“I want to make this clear again that we didn’t draft Cam to be the savior,” Rivera said. “We have to realize and recognize that we as a football team have to continue to grow. It’s not just about him. It’s about the rest of us growing within our systems.”
In a bit of unfortunate news for Clausen, it seems he may be going from battling to be the starting quarterback to being in a battle for the team’s back-up quarterback job.
“The biggest thing was we were looking at what would be our best possibility as backup,” Rivera said. “Derek is a guy who doesn’t get a lot of reps in this offense, but at the same time if something were to happen he’s a guy who probably could help us because he doesn’t need a lot of reps in this offense.”
So, for fantasy football purposes, it looks like people should stay away from Clausen ... just as they should have before he became the Panthers’ third quarterback.
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