Cam Newton's 'Losers' Comments Were a 'Slap in the Face,' Former Panthers CB Says

Cam Newton is doing a good job of alienating many of his former Carolina Panthers teammates.

The former NFL MVP went on Travis Hunter's podcast and was talking about being the No. 1 pick in the draft when he referred to the 2010 Panthers as "losers."

"My issue is when I was the first pick, I went into a locker room of losers. Guys didn’t know how to win. Guys didn’t know how to prepare," Newton said. "They didn’t take themselves serious to realize, like, ‘Yo, we was 2-14.’ There was a lot of 2-14 in the mentality of those guys."

The Panthers earned the right to select Newton No. 1 overall in 2011 after finishing 2-14 the previous year. His comments didn't sit well with several members of that 2010 team, including former Panthers cornerback Captain Munnerlyn.

“For him to say that we was losers was a slap in the face,” Munnerlyn told The Athletic's Joseph Person. “This was a team who was two years removed from playing in the NFC divisional round against the Arizona Cardinals. We lost a couple pieces. We had Checkdown Jimmy Clausen at quarterback and we had a bad year. … For him to say losers was crazy."

Panthers legend Steve Smith Sr. also weighed in on the situation.

After the 2009 season, the Panthers underwent a significant rebuild. They moved on from Jake Delhomme, Muhsin Muhammad and Julius Peppers. The results on the field were terrible, but it's hard to imagine anyone expecting great things from that team.

Even with low expectations outside the building, it's hard to fathom a team with a player as intense as Smith lacked any sort of intensity or strong desire to win.

Newton might have to run some damage control if he wants to get back in the good graces of his former teammates.