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Former Super Bowl champion Cam Newton, is giving Nico Iamaleava some career advice. Iamaleava was formerly the quarterback for the Tennessee Volunteers and has had some drama regarding NIL deals take center stage.
According to ESPN, Iamaleava decided not to participate in a spring practice because of a pending NIL deal. That decision ultimately cost him his position on the team despite the deal not yet being secured by the athlete. The deal in question would allow the former quarterback to earn 4 million instead of his current 2.4 million.
Newton caught wind of the drama and shared his opinion about the ordeal on his 4th & 1 with Cam Newton program show. The former NFL MVP said it wasn't a wise decision for him to look at the money and how detrimental it will most likely be to his career.
“Whoever gave him the advice to sit out killed that kid,” Newton said earlier this week. “Regardless of how you bounce back from this, you will be the example. There are certain things in people’s careers that it just sticks. … With Nico, he will have this stain on his career and it’s sad because, to Dan Orlovsky’s point, he is still a kid that’s being guided by other people, whether it’s his father, whether it’s his agent, if it’s his family members. It doesn’t matter.”
The former Carolina Panthers quarterback stressed that the NIL money is not “forever money” and that it will most likely be spent before he has a chance to take advantage of it.
“Whoever gave this kid the advice to sit out and chase in hopes for more money is a fool because the reality is this, and I’ll need to tell everybody about what NIL was and is intended for. It’s just to make your college experience comfortable. This is not forever money,” Newton said. “You have to understand that. Even though you’re talking about millions and millions and millions of money, you’re at 19-years-old, that money ain’t gonna last past 24. You dig what I’m saying. At 35, everybody love to say, ‘I got old money, I got old hundreds.’ Listen, at 35, I probably got money at 30 still saved. But at 22, 23? Money been spent.
"The money will come, but your development is what matters most"@CameronNewton explains why Nico Iamaleava's decision to prioritize NIL money over his growth could cost him long-term success pic.twitter.com/jQX21YYLJA
— 4th&1 with Cam Newton (@4thand1show) April 16, 2025
Cam Newton's Financial Woes
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Despite giving career advice to Iamaleava, he has faced his own financial woes recently. He spoke about being a father of eight and how his checks are just not looking the same.
“I'm going into a different phase of my life that's going to require a different form of myself,” Newton said an episode of Special Forces. “Being in the NFL, everyone knows there's a large sum of money that comes to you in a short span of time and being away from the game for three years, those checks don't came in the same. Like I got eight kids.”
However, once he made those claims, people online began saying that the former NFL star was broke.
“I’m used to a million dollars a month. What in the world can I do make me a million dollars a month legally. A week, I’m sorry I keep saying a month, a week. Think about that, there’s nothing that I have created yet, that can provide a million dollars in a week,” Newton said back in January.
“So when people hear I’m not able to provide like I once did, that’s what I’m saying. I have no made in the last 3 years, making a million dollars a week, that’s not to say I haven’t signed a million dollar deal, but in a week? Come on bro.”
“To be able to have touched the money that I’ve touched, I’ll be a f****** fool to be broke right now.”
Newton currently is a regular contributor on ESPN's “First Take” and has his own podcasts, Funky Fridays with Cam Newton and 4th and 1 with Cam Newton.
