Cam Newton To Start Season Opener For Carolina Panthers Against Cardinals

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.”

There’s a lot of speculation floating around that this means Newton should be considered the regular season starter until further notice. I’m not so sure. Usually I don’t believe coaches ever, but Rivera has a good point. Two weeks of practice and two preseason games are an eternity in the post-lockout football world. A lot can happen, and a quarterback can easily set himself apart from his competition in that time.

Whichever QB wins the Panthers’ job, however, shouldn’t get too excited. Past Steve Smith, it’s a desolate, depressing situation at wide receiver in Charlotte.

Not a big surprise at all. If the lockout hadn’t hit then this could have been a legitimate competition. Now it appears that, in the best case scenario, Carolina coaches will get their hands on Newton when training camp hits. That leaves little time to understand an entire NFL offense and gain the starter’s job.

So it’ll likely be Clausen early in the season. The next question becomes at what point Newton will take over.

Of course the NFL lockout factors into all of this. If football is still not being played in August or September, and there are only a few weeks to prepare for the season, it’s hard to see how Newton can become the starter. It’s not a knock on him -- it’s simply a realistic look at how much practice time he’ll need to be prepared.

If I had to predict right now, I’d say QB Jimmy Clausen will be the starter in Week 1 because I don’t see the lockout ending anytime soon. But I won’t be surprised if Newton makes his way in there shortly after that.

Once he’s ready, he’ll be the starter, obviously. But, as we noted, the lockout makes being ready very difficult. He played in a more simplistic offense at Auburn and has already had a month of OTAs taken away so the idea of him starting from day one is hard to grasp. I just don’t see how it can be done.

As I’ve previously said, I think ideally you let Newton sit for a while on the bench. However, the Panthers quarterback situation is such that Newton may be the best option right off the bat which means he has to start from day one. I don’t think that’s the best case scenario but it may be the one that happens.