Following the loss to the New Orleans Saints in the wild-card round on Sunday night, the Carolina Panthers could soon be under much scrutiny from the league for their handling of star quarterback Cam Newton, per ESPN's Kevin Seifert.

NFL officials have already been in contact with the Panthers' medical staff as to why Newton was not taken to the locker room when he was being evaluated for a concussion. They will not comment further until those conversations are completed.

This entire situation concerns a hit that he took from Saints defensive tackle David Onyemata with just over eight minutes left in the game. He was replaced the next play, but as he made his way off the sideline he stubbled and needed help to get back up off the field.

Newton stayed in for the rest of the game that saw him throw a 56-yard touchdown pass to rookie running back Christian McCaffrey on the third play after he returned.

Both Newton and head coach Ron Rivera indicated after the game that he was poked in the eye and wasn't dealing with symptoms of a head injury. If he did indeed suffer a head injury, it would have required him to go to the locker to get examined by the team training staff to go through the concussion protocol.

RECOMMENDED (Article Continues Below)
Gayle Benson looking with Pelicans and Saints logo in background

Chris Dodson ·

Diontae Johnson and the Steelers have parted ways.

Nick Meyer ·

GM Mickey Loomis in the middle, Taliese Fuaga, Keon Coleman, Leonard Taylor III around him, and New Orleans Saints wallpaper in the background

Enzo Flojo ·

There is little margin for error for determination with head injuries as it has been at the forefront of scrutiny by the NFL over the last several years. Regardless of the comments made by Newton and Rivera, there will be some sort of action taken by the league to look into the matter further.

The NFL has issued out a few hefty fines to teams for violations of the concussion protocol as the Seattle Seahawks were fined $100,000 for failing to test quarterback Russell Wilson in Week 10. At the same time, there was also another more egregious incident on Dec. 29 concerning Tom Savage after he showed obvious concussion-like symptoms, but the league did not charge the Texans for any violations.

What this may ultimately mean is that the NFL will take some sort of action to look into the matter in the coming days to get further clarity on the entire situation.