There have been a lot of talks surrounding Cam Newton's recent free agency woes and his former teammate is backing him up. In a recent interview, Mike Tolbert says that their former team, the Carolina Panthers, handled the whole Cam situation wrongly.

“They've been doing him wrong timing-wise for the past two or three years, if you ask me.” Tolder told The Athletic.

After dominating the league and winning the MVP trophy in 2015, Newton had to play hurt throughout the next season but still managed to play well in 2016 and 2017. Tolbert, who played alongside Newton for the Panthers from 2012-2016, claims that their team could've done better in diagnosing and handling the QB's health early on.

“It goes back to his shoulder surgery. Everyone knew his shoulder was messed up in the middle of the year two years ago. But they wait until offseason gets ready to start to have shoulder surgery. Makes no sense. Timing's off.” he adds.

The 34-year old former fullback goes on to narrate that the Panthers somehow rushed their star in returning to the field again last season even if he was still not 100% after suffering an injury in a preseason match against the New England Patriots.

“They (Panthers) were saying, ‘Oh, he's got a high-ankle sprain.' … But you wait 'til December for him to beg you to have surgery. He shouldn't have been out there Week 1 and 2. He shouldn't have been out there probably 'til Week 4 or 5, at minimum.” says Tolbert.

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The Panthers eventually released the 31-year old earlier this year after failing to find a trade partner for him. Newton has yet to sign with any team given that most NFL teams have been shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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