Cam Newton is headed to Foxborough after agreeing to a contract with the Patriots --- and after giving Panthers fans an inside look at his exit from Charlotte last March.
Newton's site posted a YouTube video Monday that was one part thank you to the Carolinas and one part Team Cam's version of events. The video begins with Newton working out on a home treadmill. A graphic of "MARCH 17, 2020/ATLANTA, GA" appears. News of his trade request had just broken.
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"I'm angry . . . I feel let down," he said as he walked, "but at the same time, hey, I'm not bitter."
"I know since the day that I first came into this league that this day was going to come," he added. He said the Panthers were a "great organization."
"I'll say this right now: I never once wanted to leave Carolina. Don't let them make you believe anything else," he said. "It was their decision, I stuck with it, and I knew that, so I asked for a trade. Everything else? That's BS."
The trade talks ended a week later when the Panthers released Newton on March 24. A little over three months after that, he became a Patriot, agreeing on a one-year deal with a minimal base salary and incentives that could push the value of the contract as high as $7.5 million.
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The Panthers freed up $19.1 million of cap space by releasing Newton. That more than covered the $14 million cap hit this year (per Spotrac.com) for Newton's replacement, Teddy Bridgewater.
"Like I said, I'm not bitter, I don't have any hatred, I just understand that this is a business first," Newton said in the video.
