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The Carolina Panthers appear to be leaning towards shutting quarterback Cam Newton down while he is clearly suffering from an injury to his throwing shoulder.
Sources: #Panthers are expected to sit Cam Newton (shoulder) now that they are out of the playoff race and Taylor Heinicke is believed to be starting Sunday vs. the #Falcons. A move that makes a lot of sense. … Cam is not practicing today.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 19, 2018
Newton looked out of sorts in Monday night's game against the New Orleans Saints and his throwing motion appeared to suffer as well. The former MVP had shoulder surgery in the offseason and it appears that his shoulder is still not even close to 100 percent.
The Panthers should shut their star quarterback down and allow him time to recover and hopefully come back healthy for next season. The problem with the injury is the fact that it is to Newton's throwing shoulder and he can't seem to get any kind of recovery time since the Panthers have been fighting for a playoff spot.
Carolina's season is all but over, so the move to shut Newton down is very necessary if they want to have him healthy in the future.
The Panthers could desperately use a star receiver to complement Newton, considering wide receiver Devin Funchess has not lived up to expectations and tight end Greg Olsen is constantly injured. The lone bright spot of the Panthers offense has been running back Christian McCaffrey. The offense undoubtedly moves through McCaffrey and he takes a lot of pressure off of Newton.
Backup quarterback Taylor Heinicke will start in Newton's place, but the gap in terms of talent is extreme. Heinicke can only hope to lead the Panthers to win out this season, but the Panthers can't expect much out of him.
