Cam Newton reaffirms his statement that the Panthers had a “locker room of losers” before he was drafted

Former Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton stood by his earlier comments, stating that the team had “a locker room of losers” before he was drafted first overall in 2011. He called his remarks “aggressive,” but insisted they were “true.”

During Thursday’s “4th and 1 with Cam Newton” podcast, he explained that he was talking about the team’s performance, not individual players.

“When did we become so sensitive?” Newton asked. “When did we become so sensitive to really speaking what the reality is? A locker room full of losers? Aggressive, but it’s true.”

Newton’s remarks came after he appeared on a podcast with University of Colorado’s Travis Hunter before the Super Bowl, where he discussed the pressures Hunter might face if he’s selected first overall in this year’s draft.

Newton told Hunter that he could not impact the game like a quarterback does, and went on to describe his first experience with the Panthers as a team with a losing mentality. “I went into a locker room of losers. Just honest. Guys didn’t know how to win; guys didn’t know how to prepare. They didn’t take themselves serious to realize we was 2-14. There was a lot of 2-14 in the mentality of those guys.”

Many former teammates, including star receiver Steve Smith Sr., didn’t agree with Newton’s comments. Smith, who was part of the 2010 team, expressed his frustration on social media, tweeting, “53 man locker room – 1 = 52 losers. Wow… breaking news to 89” along with an angry emoji.

Newton responded on his podcast, saying he had “no quarrel” with Smith and understood his reaction, but he wasn’t changing his stance. “I’m not specifically talking about those guys,” Newton clarified. “I’m talking about the culture that was there prior to me coming into the locker room — and it was a losers’ mentality.”

He explained that the Panthers’ mindset was still struggling in his first two seasons, which ended with records of 6-10 and 7-9. Newton admitted that he had to learn how to win in the NFL. Things improved in 2013 when the team finished 12-4, but it wasn’t until 2015, when the Panthers went 15-1 and made the Super Bowl, that the team truly turned things around. Newton was named league MVP that season.

“Is it me saying that, ‘Oh when I came, I made everything (better)?’” Newton said. “No. I never said that. What I said was if you’re getting drafted No. 1, you’re going to a bad football team. That’s facts. And that’s the point that I was trying to tell Travis Hunter. You see what I’m saying? For me, everybody is so taken aback, like, ‘Oh, Cam said this.’ Bro, it’s the truth. It’s the truth.”