Steve Smith Sr. 'Very Disappointed' by Cam Newton Calling Panthers Teammates 'Losers'

Former NFL quarterback Cam Newton appeared on The Travis Hunter Show last week and said he "went into a locker room of losers" after being the top overall pick by the Carolina Panthers in the 2011 NFL draft.

Former wideout Steve Smith Sr., one of those "losers," took that personally.

"[Fifty-three] man locker room [minus one equals] 52 losers," he wrote on social media. "Wow... breaking news to 89!"

"I've watched and listened from afar as you, Cam Newton, talk about the Panthers!" he added. "None of us are perfect. Yes, we were 2-14 before you blessed us with your presence. The way you have talked about the Panthers lately I'm very disappointed. I wish you nothing but the very best. I'm done!!!"

Newton's full comments seemed to suggest that he entered a locker room in need of a culture change.

"You could potentially be the first pick, but, bro, you have no way of impacting the game the way a quarterback does, he said on the podcast. "You can lock down the No. 1 receiver. You can make impact plays on offense all you want but it's still not like a quarterback. My issue is that, when I was the first pick, I went into a locker room of losers. Just honest. Guys didn't know how to win; guys didn't know how to prepare. They didn't take themselves serious to realize we was 2-14. There was a lot of 2-14 in the mentality of those guys."

It isn't hard to see why Smith would hone in on Newton's decision to describe his former teammates as "losers," however. Former Panthers' lineman Geoff Schwartz didn't care for those remarks either.

“'A locker room full of losers who didn’t know how to win and who didn’t know how to prepare.' Oh boy... Sure we went 2-14 but the core of that roster also went 12-4 two years beforehand," he wrote on social media. "Maybe it’s a tad more nuanced than a 'bunch of losers who can’t prepare.'”

Newton did transform the Panthers on the offensive side of the ball, much as superstar linebacker Luke Kuechly (drafted in 2012) eventually did on defense. Those two were huge factors in the Panthers ripping off four playoff berths in five seasons, starting in 2013, including a trip to the Super Bowl in Newton's MVP season in 2015.

But he wasn't the only player who helped turn the ship around, and his comments ignored a number of other circumstances plaguing the franchise in 2010.

Star linebacker Thomas Davis missed the season with an ACL tear. Running back DeAngelo Williams played just six games due to a foot injury after back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons. Hall of Fame defensive end Julius Peppers had just departed in free agency. Long-time staples like Muhsin Muhammad and fullback Brad Hoover retired before the season. The team attempted, in disastrous fashion, to replace quarterback Jake Delhomme with rookie Jimmy Clausen.

The Panthers, in other words, were in a transitionary period, a bit of context that Newton's comments didn't acknowledge.