The Ringer NFL Show - 6. New Beginnings | The Cam Chronicles

Episode Date: August 17, 2020

Cam’s career is on the ropes. Can he defy the odds one more time? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everyone. Before we get into the show, this episode contains content related to suicide and self-harm. If you or anyone you know are having these thoughts, please seek help at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. That's 1-800-273-8-8-2-55. From the Ringer, this is The Cam Chronicles. I'm Tyler Our Times. As a child, Jordan Rod Rieg knew she wanted a career in journalism. I'd always wanted to write for a newspaper and be on the front of the sports page and to see my byline next to a really powerful story that would affect people and let people in on who somebody is. When she was a student at Arizona State University, some of her journalism professors discouraged a career in print. Be on camera, they said, or pursue a career in PR.

But Jordan remembered the old copies of the Arizona Republic she saw growing up, which prominently featured. your pala Boven. That's when she knew women could be sports writers too. And Jordan was determined to try. After graduating from college, Jordan took an internship with the WNBA, followed by a job covering Penn State football. In 2016, she was offered a job with the Charlotte Observer covering the Carolina Panthers. I was hesitant about covering the NFL I never had. I was barely getting my feet wet as a college football writer. She was nervous. but it was an incredible opportunity for a young reporter. The Panthers were on the rise coming off their Super Bowl appearance.

Joram would be one of only a handful of female sports writers covering the NFL team. So she packed her life into a car and drove south with her dog. On her very first day at the job, she met Cam Newton. I will never forget that. He was sitting in my seat when I came in, you know, just this billion megawatt smile. and he was so kind. He grabbed my hand in both of his hands for the handshake, and I just remember thinking, oh, my God, this man is massive.

He was really warm. He said, welcome. Can you imagine that? Your first day on a job, and one of the best players in the NFL is keeping your seat warm. I looked around that room, and I was the only person in that room who looked like me. And I was so,

terrified of failing. But I was greeted by this warm, honest, genuine person who just happened to be the franchise quarterback of the team and a international superstar. Joran was determined to prove herself. But like anyone with a new job, she made some mistakes. She learned quickly, however, that no mistake would go unnoticed. In her first week with the observer, she misspelled the name a Panther star and linebacker Luke Keeckley. A fan on Twitter, like, kindly corrected me. I spelled it K-E-U instead of U-E. And a fan said, it's all right.

Like, people do that all the time. And I was really embarrassed by it. And I thought, I can't let a mistake like that happen again. Jordan worked feverishly to make sure that it didn't. I was at the stadium, you know, early in the morning till late at night, and then I'd go home. I didn't have a couch, so I'd spread my notes out on my floor. and I would study and read and study.

So I'd go back and watch YouTube clips to try to see styles of play and different things to try to catch up because I was behind. As she got to know the team better, Jordan started to see Cam in a new light. She realized Cam wasn't much older than she was, and he was trying to navigate life in the public eye.

I kind of empathized with him because it also at times felt to me like he was trying to learn about himself and trying to learn about who he is as an adult where he's not only being scrutinized, but also has to do it very quickly. A year into the job, Jordan was in the groove. Heading into the 2017 season, she had established herself on the beat. The Panthers were on a roll, too, starting the season 3 and 1.

After a big win against the New England Patriots, enthusiasm around the team was high. That week, Jordan arrived at Bank of America Stadium for Cam's weekly press conference to ask him a few questions. It was like any other workday. I was writing a story on Devin Funchess. They had been trying to get him to be a little bit more physical after the catch. And I asked Cam at his weekly press conference. Devin Funches has seemed to really embrace the physicality of his routes and getting those extra yards.

Does that give you a little bit of an enjoyment to see him kind of truck-staking people out there? Cam closed his eyes and smirked as Jordan finished her question. He had a mock and smile in his face as he responded. It's funny to hear a female talk about routes. Like, it's funny. And I remember everyone's head snapped back and looked at me. I didn't follow up on the question. My heart fell into my knees.

He answered the question, gave a great answer. And we wrapped up the press conference. And a couple of reporters came up to me and asked me what I thought about that or if I was okay and I was just kind of stunned. My mind was blank. Jordan attempted to go about her day as usual. She went to the locker room after Cam's press conference to follow up with him. He seemed distant.

He was no longer to warm and inviting presents who welcomed her to Carolina. She asked Cam if he knew her name. He said he did. She walked away and, unbeknownst to her, the observer already posted the clip of her exchange with Cam online. When Jordan got back to her desk, her phone was already blowing up. And then... I sent out a tweet that said,

I don't think it's funny to be a female and talk about routes. I think it's my job. And then everything just went nuclear. Jordan left Bank of America Stadium and walked to her car. A camera crew was waiting for in a parking lot. Someone had followed me to my car. I thought that was odd. I still wasn't processing, like, how much this had blown up.

By the time she got home, the news had gone viral. I started getting a lot of messages. I didn't check them. My editor had called me then to check on me. I was in shock, and then all of a sudden I started vomiting. It wasn't the comment. The comment was what it was. but that wasn't what made me get sick.

It was all of a sudden I was the story. That's what made me get sick. I didn't go to sleep. The next day, Joran returned to work. Overnight, the comments turned into a national story. Carolina Panthers quarterback, Cam Newton, is facing criticism this morning for what some are calling sexist comments he made to a female reporter.

Newton seemed to mock the Charlotte observers, Jordan Rodriguez at a news conference yesterday when she asked about one of his teammates. I was going into the locker room and all the players that I talked to were really normal and kind, and I was still kind of in a state of shock, and I was shaking when I was holding my recorder.

I remember that. And there were cameras in the locker room, and they weren't filming the players. They were filming me. I couldn't understand why. How'd the rest of the day go? Poorly. every day went poorly after that for a long time.

That night, some of Jordan's old tweets from when she was in college resurfaced online. In one tweet, she reposted a racist joke. In another, she laughed at a racist joke her father made. The tweets were reprehensible. How could someone who works in the press, who is tasked with covering predominantly black athletes, make these kinds of public statements? All of a sudden, the viral moment she was a part of drastically turned. That's when I started vomiting again.

I mean, I was ashamed. There's no other word for it. I was ashamed because I let a lot of people I care about down by the fact that those ever existed in the first place. At first, everyone in my ears were saying, you know, you were young, you were young, you were young, it doesn't matter. It doesn't fucking matter. I let so many people down, so many people I consider mentors, friends, everybody who stood up for me.

And I hurt the community that I was trying so hard to learn about and to be a part of in Charlotte, who had just had this shattering thing happen just a year ago. I wanted to crawl on hands and knees toward the city and apologize. And instead, I had something dictated to me. Jordan said the observer drafted a statement, where she then posted to Twitter. It read, I apologize for the offensive tweets

from my Twitter account from four or five years ago. There is no excuse for these tweets and the sentiment behind them. I am deeply sorry, and I apologize. Still, the backlash against Jordan continued. I went into work and thought, I'm just going to keep trying to show up. I had a lot of people in my ear telling me what I should think and what I should feel. The only thing I felt was shame.

Everyone thought it would be best if I took a leave of absence. So I did. I was receiving some pretty specific death threats and mail. So I was staying at a hotel. I was alone. I had a plan to kill myself. I was ready. I had a plan.

Joran felt ashamed, but she didn't blame Cam. There was nothing about my mental breakdown of sorts that had anything to do with what he had said to me. My decision to end my life was based on my own shame. it was not based off anything he had said. Jordan's twin sister could sense something was wrong. So she had flown to Charlotte. She was sent Jordan on little missions

to give her a sense of purpose throughout the day. At one point, she asked me if I could go get her some sunflower seeds. Because when we were little and we played softball together, we would spit those and it was a dumb task and she needed to keep assigning me things to complete, to keep me busy. I went down to the corner

and it was a 7-Eleven. When Jordan walked into the store, she saw a player from the Panthers. She didn't tell me who it was to keep his identity private. He was buying snacks. He had a young child and there was, you know, honey buns

and things in there. And I went up to him and I said, can I talk to you for a second? And he pulled me aside and we talked. and I told him that I was sorry and that my biggest shame of my life will be that false impression of my character and hurting people because of that.

He just hugged me for a long time and he said it was okay and I didn't, I decided to stay. That moment was a turning point for Jordan. She said she saw professional help. And by October, she felt like she was in a better place. So she decided to return to work. The first thing I did on that Wednesday and Thursday when we had that locker room availability was I quietly went around to every player at his locker.

I wanted to apologize. And the main thing I wanted to say to them is that I would spend the rest of my life proving my character to them. Years later, she's still reflecting on this moment. I will never forgive myself, ever. I have had the grace of people who should not be showing me grace. I've had the grace of that entire locker room. And they should never have had to show me that grace

because I will never give it to myself. Jordan slowly worked towards building back a confidence and reputation. As for Cam, he posted a video, publicly apologizing for his misogynistic comments during that press conference. After careful thought, I understand that my word choice was extremely degrading and disrespectful to women. And to be honest, that was not my intentions. And if you are a person who took offense to what I said, I sincerely apologize to you. Many women who care about sports rally behind Jordan because they can relate to being the subject of a misogynistic attack.

At the same time, Jordan's tweets enraged and hurt people of color. Jordan has told me several times that she takes full responsibility for her passwords and actions and is still seeking to, in her words, dismantling disrupts systems that still coddled her. Jordan says she received several messages from players and personnel in the Panthers organization, but she never revealed to me if she had any closure with Cam. In his public apology, Cam didn't mention Jordan by name. I thought Jordan might feel resentful of that fact, but that's not how she sees it. She sees herself and Cam as two people in the public eye trying to do their jobs well,

but making mistakes along the way and trying to grow from it nonetheless. I can never be someone to tell anybody how they should have reacted or responded to it. Either way, because I understand that it hit every single person differently. It was a mistake made in public. And so, therefore, every individual owned a piece of that in terms of how it affected them. So I would never take away from anyone's anger toward any side of what happened. Even if Cam and Jordan didn't have the same experience, she feels as though she and Cam are bound by that moment.

He posted something on Instagram a few weeks later that a couple of sources told me had not been approved by his team, and it was his old mugshot. And he posted this long message about making mistakes and being authentic and understanding that you will make mistakes but to be authentic in your growth.

And I've held on to that for a long story. time. I've taken a lot of courage in watching him become more himself and become more of a person who he believes he wants to be. And I think he has to shoulder a burden that most people can never know. I think that he has to do so for the thing that he loves. And that is the price he pays for the thing that he loves to do. Cam had his flaws off the field. But his faults had often been overshadowed by his achievements on the field. By the 2018 season, that was no longer the case. In injuries have taken their toll. In 2016, an ESPN analysis found that Cam had been hit 831 times while rushing or throwing the ball since his NFL debut in 2011. The quarterback

with the second highest hit total in that span was Russell Wilson with 533 hits. Before games, Cam said a body prayer where he'd touch each part of his ale in frame. In 2018, North Turner, the Panthers' new offensive coordinator, tried to adjust their game plan to protect cam. Here's Max Henson, who wrote for the Panthers' website for nearly a decade. I mean, it was a struggle to get the ball past 10, 15 yards. And I think that's kind of what North Turner tried to do when he first got here is maybe allow him to utilize checkdown passes a little more. You don't always have to stand that pocket and take those big hits or run it yourself and take those hits. Let's try to make this easier on you.

Let's put guys around you. Let them do some of the work. You don't have to carry this entire thing on your broad shoulders. And we saw it early in the 2018 season. That was working really well. His completion percentage was at a career best. The team was winning. But when the lights were off, it was a bit different.

The training and injury rooms held war stories. I would hear in a very vague senses about the amount of things that Camas had. had happened to him, stuff that the media never found out about or that he played through. So, yeah, I mean, was I surprised? No. That's Marshall Newhouse. He was an offensive lineman on a 2018 Panthers team. Cam broke his body for himself, his legacy to win and for Carolina. So yes, football breaks your body, but he did it willingly.

He did it through a lot of physicality, a lot of breakdown that naturally happens, but also is exacerbated by the Stalin, he plays and the stuff he's gone through with Carolina. Cam has shown us a prototype of a quarterback who never existed before, who endured a higher level of punishment. He seemed invincible. But his high-risk style of play came with a cost. His last two seasons in Carolina were disastrous.

Cam could no longer operate at his highest level, only a few years removed from his MVP season. He missed most of 2018 after undergoing surgery to repair a partially-torned torn rotator cuff in his shoulder. One teammate even told me that Cam's arm was barely hanging on by a thread. By the beginning of the 2019 season, there was some hope that he could return to his best. Those hopes were dashed. He hurt his foot badly in preseason, suffering at Liss Frank injury.

He played two games that season and had surgery in December. During that time, his head coach in nine years, Ron Rivera, was fired. Tied in Greg Olson, his main target. for a decade left the team at the end of the season. His close buddy, lineback of Thomas Davis, had left the team the year prior and starting linebacker Luke Keekley retired. The stars of Carolina were gone.

There was also a new owner, David Tepper, who wanted to revamp the franchise. Those following the team could sense that Cam's days in Carolina were numbered. Suddenly, Carolina fans like Jesse Hardy, who I spoke to outside Bank of America, Stadium in December before the last game of the 2019 season, started to imagine a future without Cam Newton as the Panthers' quarterback.

It's actually pretty unsettling when you think about what the Carolina Panthers may look like without Cam Newton. What people have to realize is that as easy as this energy came to Charlotte, you know, with the emergence of Cam Newton, it can go away just as fast. it could mean for Carolina what Carolina was before Cam Newton showed up being another irrelevant fan base in the NFL people don't show up to games and people don't get decided about the team anymore Jesse paid for billboards that went up around Charlotte towards the end of 2019 begging the Panthers to keep Cam the idea of removing a franchise cornerstone was unfathomable

even for that cornerstone himself being a Panther meant the world to Cam He told me on a windy day in January in Atlanta, a month after the end of the season, that he wanted to be in Carolina forever. On my whole career to be in Charlotte, there's a lot of misconception, a lot of, you know, things that's been in the media that hasn't been organically, you know, made by me. But I feel like Charlotte has become a part of my family, has become a part of my life and my growth and I want to be the quarterback that's leading the team to victory when they won the Super Bowl and what better place than Charlotte.

But it seemed like Tepper had already made up his mind. Carolina was moving on from Cam Newt. In March, the Panthers announced they had given Cam permission to seek a trade. On his Instagram page, Cam said, stop with the wordplay. I never asked for it. There is no dodging this one. I love the Panthers to death and will always love you guys. Please do not try and play me or manipulate the narrative and act like I wanted this. You forced me into this. 90 minutes after the Panthers announced that they had given Cam permission to seek a trade, news broke that they had signed his replacement, Teddy Bridgewater. A week later, after finding no will and trade partner, the Panthers released Cam. For the first time, for the first

time in his professional career. The former MVP, three-time pro bowler, 2015 offensive player at a year, and 2011 offensive rookie at a year was out of a job. Cecil wondered what was next for Cam.

He's been a big fish in a small pond, but he was the Carolina Panthers in large part, a Hollywood type guy with the way he dressed press conferences, mannerisms, personality and all of that.

He's not traditionally the ordinary guy. Now, wherever that other role leads, we don't know. But we will soon find out. Patriots have a new quarterback. The Cam Newton Watch is finally over. The former MVP and number one overall pick has agreed to a one-year contract with the Patriots that is low risk and high reward for New England. In late June, the New England Patriots signed Cam to a one-year-old.

to a one-year deal for the veteran minimum. The entire contract, including incentives, could be worth up to $7.5 million. It was the kind of low-risk, high-reward acquisition Patriots coach Bill Belichick is notorious for take a player unwanted by his former team, sign him to a cheap contract, and resuscitate his career. Finally, Cam had his opportunity. But will it work? and Tom Brady in his six Super Bowls?

Cam, ever the nonconformist, joining the NFL's evil empire? It's a fascinating gamble. But if there's one thing we've learned about Cam, is that he's usually worth the roll of the dice. And Cam is up to the challenge. He's hungry. He wants to prove us all wrong one last time.

And I see you, Cam, working out in your basement, screaming about being overlooked. I see you. sweating every day to make it back to the top. I see you, man. Believe that. But no matter what happens on the field or with the Patriots,

Cam has a sense of clarity at this stage in his career. You know, I'm in a position now, man, where I'm comfortable in my skin. I don't try to be nothing that I'm not, and I'm fine with that. I want to make sure that, you know, I project being unique, being yourself, and being, you know, true to who you are. and where you came from as well. I've made mistakes. I have made mistakes.

I'm going to continue to make mistakes, but at the same time, I don't want those mistakes to be something that's been constant. You know, I got children. I want to be able to teach them, you know, right from wrong and know what to expect. And, you know, I don't proclaim to be something that I'm not, and I know who I am, and I know what I'm trying to be.

And I don't bite my tongue for nobody. Everybody know how I rock and roll, and I'm just more comfortable that way. The day that I start trying to change up and being somebody else that's not, you know, myself, then chosen, sovereign, Kashmir, Caesar, comidas, they're going to look at me like I'm crazy, you know what I'm saying? Cam Newton is one of the greatest talents at the quarterback position we've ever seen at any level. The lessons and the mistakes that comes with his achievements don't vanish. when football ends.

He's passing those lessons on to the future, Cam Newton's. And maybe that's what he's become best at. He is the son of a preacher man, after all. When I was at Cecil's church in Noonan, on that breezy January Sunday, Cecil invited Cam up to the altar. Cam took command of the pulpit

as if he was back on the gridiron about to throw a touchdown. He seemed completely at ease. And you know, it was right there when I finally saw Cam Newton. Praise Lord of Saints. Praise the Lord. Saints. You know, I have so much responsibility and God put me on this place of influence. And, you know, I want to do right by it. And a lot of times we want to be real with people, but the realness needs to come from yourself. Kael out of yourself.

I think that's when my life changed when you start keeping it a hundred as. Don't be so the Bible says faith without work is dead. Dead.

Lifeless. So you can sit up here and say, man, I want to be the next Cal New. I want to be the next LeBron James. I want to be a doctor. I want to be a lawyer. you, I want to be a pastor, I want to be a counselor, I want to be a fireman, I want to be a policeman, I want to do all these things. You can have all the faith in the world, but it's dead if you don't work.

So I admonished to each and every single individual. Here, young or old, because like I said, a couple weeks ago, we all are youth. We all a child of God. Children of God, I'm sorry, sir. I don't want to time. Ignorily. But at the same time, I would, I would, it would behoove you to everybody on the sound of my voice to decide something, be something, and all of it's dead unless you work for it. All right?

Thank you guys so much for having me. Thank you for the support. Thank you so much. The Cam Chronicles was written and reported by me, a North Philly joint, Tala Our Times, and edited by a master of words, Connor Nevins. The show was produced by Kara Cornhaver, that soundboy Isaac Lee, and the Michigan man Noah Malale. Also, you know Isaac Lee sound design that thing, too. Thank you to the fact checkers, young homie Daniel Chin, and Jordan Liggins with a three shot from the top, as well as copy chief Craig Gaines. The logo for the podcast was designed by art director, David Shoemaker, with illustration by Dallin Overstreet.

Special thanks to the boss Bill Simmons, the movie man Sean Fennacy, the woman with everything raised. Maureeves, Mallory Rubin, and of course, Juliet Lippman.