Cam Newton Reportedly Expected to Be Shut Down by Panthers with Shoulder Injury

The Carolina Panthers are starting quarterback Taylor Heinicke in place of Cam Newton for Sunday's Week 16 clash with the Atlanta Falcons at Bank of America Stadium because of a shoulder injury, according to Bryan Strickland of the Panthers' official website.

On Wednesday, Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported the Panthers aren't going to risk Newton's health with their playoff hopes hanging on by a thread. 

Joe Person of The Athletic provided further details about the possible decision to keep Newton sidelined:

Carolina head coach Ron Rivera said Tuesday the team hadn't determined whether to officially shut down Newton—who didn't take part in Wednesday's practice session—for the rest of the season since they are mathematically alive in the postseason race.

"Believe it or not there's still a slim glimmer so we'll see," he told reporters. "Again, we'll continue to focus in on playing football and we got Atlanta coming to town and all intents and purposes, we play to win."

At 6-8, the Panthers would be eliminated with a loss in either of their final two games. They are currently 1.5 games behind the Minnesota Vikings, owners of the NFC's final wild-card spot at 7-6-1, with the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins at 7-7.

Carolina finishes the regular season with games against the Falcons (5-9) and New Orleans Saints (12-2).

So the franchise needed to weigh the short-term reward of potentially getting to 8-8 against the long-term risk of trying to get Newton to fight through his shoulder injury for what FiveThirtyEight projects is a less than one percent chance of actually reaching the playoffs.

It sounds like the Panthers are leaning toward starting Heinicke, who's attempted just five regular-season passes across four years in the NFL, the rest of the way.