Cam Newton on MNF

This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast.

Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons 3 to 7 on Sports Hub Triad. The Carolina Panthers are going to officially release Cam Newton today. He's 30 years old, a former MVP, a number one overall draft choice, I've argued the most influential athlete in the history of North Carolina pro sports, and the Panthers are going to get nothing in return for his exit.

Here's some breaking news from Adam Schefter, who sent this out 10 minutes ago. Cam had a physical in Atlanta yesterday, coordinated by the Panthers and his agency team per sources. Newton passed the physical and is healthy per source with both his shoulder and foot quote, checking out well and he is hungrier than ever and eager for his next opportunity, end quote. The immediate question you might have, if Cam is healthy and he's passed a physical, why is Carolina going to release him at this point? The answer to that, they've already explored trade options.

Team said they know what Carolina's intention is going to be. So of course they're not going to trade anything for him. Also, I think this has a lot more to do with contract details for Cam than it does him being healthy, this being a solid farewell between Carolina and arguably their most talented player at quarterback to walk through their doors.

Jordan Roderick wrote this in the Athletic earlier in the week. Newton could be released with a failed physical designation, after which he would be within his rights to file a grievance against a team and received an injury settlement in which he could recruit part of his $19 million owed in 2020. That's what the Panthers would have to do if they released him without him getting a physical. They would have to label it as a failed physical, Cam would be well within his rights to try and get some of that $19 million he would have been owed this year. So now that he had the physical and he's healthy, the next domino that's going to fall, the Panthers, they are going to cut ties with Cam, and they're going to get nothing in return.

That's a difficult pill to swallow. However, I still don't believe the Panthers egregiously mishandled Cam. As many are saying today, sometimes business here is messy. This is certainly messy, but the right business decisions were made here when you explore what exactly happened. They didn't think Teddy Bridgewater would be an option.

This is another nugget I found in the reporting done by Jordan Roderick and Joe Person. Joe's going to join us later on this hour, the only Panthers beat rider that covered every step of Cam's career in the NFL at this point. They didn't think Teddy would be an option. And we talked about this about a month ago, exploring alternatives to Cam Newton. I liked Teddy Bridgewater as an option, but I thought he would have wanted four years, at least four years commitment from a team after sitting behind Drew Brees the last few years. After semi being screwed over by the New York Jets.

After dealing with the injuries he's had. I thought he would have wanted more security than a three-year contract, but that's what was on the table. Also, I thought he was going to make in today's NFL, looking at the CBA as well, that just got agreed to for the next 10 years, how the salary cap is going to grow. I thought he would have wanted between 27 to $30 million. Carolina is getting him at 20 million a year. I didn't think this contract would have been possible a month ago. And it seems Carolina felt the same way.

That's why Matt rule was at the combine saying, Oh, we absolutely want Cam to be the quarterback. They didn't think a better alternative would be there. They didn't think a guy who ran the offense in new Orleans that Matt rule wants to recreate with Joe Brady, that they could get Teddy in here and have it be a tanking friendly contract. And it is tanking friendly. Just look at the deals Carolina has made.

All the transactions have this in common. Other than Teddy Bridgewater or excuse me, other than Russell Okun, all of the players Carolina has signed are 29 or younger. Other than Teddy Bridgewater and Trey Boston, none of the deals they signed are more than two year deals. We've talked about this with tanking time and time again. It's about short contracts and cheap contracts.

It's about youth. Other than Okun, all the players are 29 or younger. Other than Teddy and Trey Boston, no more than a two year contract has been agreed to. And with Teddy, it's essentially a two year contract because there's no guaranteed money on year three. So I don't think Matt rule was lying to us a month ago.

I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt. It was either going to be Teddy or the hope of Cam becoming healthy. It's not fair to say it's Teddy or Cam. It was Teddy or we will see how healthy Cam is. Because we had this off season last year. Is it going to be a healthy shoulder or a non healthy shoulder?

Then it's become the foot again. I don't think people were completely sold on the shoulder. Heck Matt rule even referred to it saying, oh, last year was still about the shoulder recovering to a degree. When he was interviewed by Mike Florio and Chris Sims at the combine, the Panthers absolutely made the right choice and going with Teddy. If you keep Cam around, then Teddy's not going to sign on. Teddy's not going to become a Panther if Cam is still on the roster. He's not going to risk going across the division from where he's already at just to sit behind another quarterback.

I don't think he's going to do that. So you had to show public commitment to Teddy by publicly distancing yourself from Cam. And that's what last week was right after they said Cam will have the option to explore a trade.

They've allowed that to happen. Less than an hour later, we learned that the Panthers have agreed to a contract with Teddy Bridgewater. If you keep Cam around, you're essentially hoping that somebody is going to give you a third or a fourth round draft pick.

That's essentially what it is. Okay. You keep Cam on the roster and you're looking for a third or a fourth round draft pick in return. Is that third or fourth round draft pick that day three pick, is it worth losing somebody who's going to be your starting quarterback for the next few years and potentially could be the starting quarterback beyond that?

Of course not. So it was messy. It hurt. It was a difficult pill to swallow, but business is messy at times, the Panthers, they absolutely made the right call. I don't think they mishandled Cam Newton one bit, except if it was me, I probably would have released Cam sooner. I know there were complications as I outlined with the physical, Cam could file a grievance if they labeled it a failed physical for why the Panthers decided to move on. It might cost them some money on the backend, but Cam is such an important piece of this franchise's history. He deserved a chance to explore New England, to explore Chicago, to explore Washington before Brian Hoyer gets signed, before Chicago decides to go with Nick Foles, acquiring him from Jacksonville, before Ron Rivera decided to trade for Kyle Allen yesterday. Is it best for the Panthers that they cut him and potentially lost some money on the backend?

No, but you made your intentions known. The right way to do by your all important franchise quarterback for nearly a decade is to release him instead of having this really awkward circumstance for a week where he's putting ominous Instagram posts up saying that he's unemployed while I go to the Panthers website and Cam Newton is still there. That's not the way that this should have ended. You could tweet the show at sportsubtriad, 336-777-1600 is the phone number if you care to chime in. Robert Walsh is the producer of this show, Aaron Gabriel, an assistant producer today, also in the control room. We're going to have Dick Vitale on the show today in addition to Joe Person. I've been thinking about college basketball ever since seeing the news last night that Boston College decided to keep Jim Christian for his seventh year. Much like Danny Manning, he's had a rough six year stretch in the ACC. But unlike Danny Manning, he hasn't been to the NCAA tournament one time with the Eagles. It's obvious that this pandemic, it saved Jim Christian's job.

Now the question is, could it potentially save Danny Manning's job too? Because I know this for certain, Boston College, they were 100% ready to make a change, 100%. Everybody I talked to in the ACC who were plugged in to what's happening in BC, they said, oh, this is going to be a change and it's going to happen swiftly.

Then the world changed. It would have been easier for Boston College to make a change than for Wake Forest to make a change today. They didn't go to the NCAA tournament in six years. The AD didn't hire Martin Jarmodos from North Carolina did not hire Christian.

He's been in place since 2017. This is the crazy part though. Jim Christian's buyout is only about $1 million. Yes, you heard that right, about $1 million, that's what it would have cost Boston College to move off of Jim Christian. Wake Forest is going to cost $15 million.

So here's the question I have today. If you're convinced Wake Forest is moving off Danny Manning, where's the $15 million coming from? You might say Mitch Shaw or one of these rich donors that Wake Forest has this rich alumni base that might want to see a more successful basketball program, but most of those rich alumni, they are also business owners. And who is lining up today during this pandemic to say, yep, I'll give a million.

I'll give two, I'll give five, I'll give 10 million to get a new basketball coach at Wake Forest. Who exactly is going to do that? Business owners, they are scared.

These are weird times. So I'm not saying that the pandemic is going to save Danny Manning's job, but I believe it saved Jim Christians. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility, it could save Danny's as well. A big thing to look at though, one thing that could really tip the scales, what happens with Olivier Sar and what happens with Chaundi Brown? They haven't made any plans to leave. That's been a big issue with Danny. Players deciding to transfer out or go to the NBA when they're not ready. None of those two have said, oh yeah, I'm going to test the waters in the NBA.

And none of them have said they're going to enter the transfer portal. So if they're going to stay, you could come up with some type of defense for Danny that includes, okay, this roster, you want to keep it together. It might be the most talented roster Wake Forest has had under Danny Manning. And that includes the 2017 team with John Collins that went to the NCAA tournament, the one and only time that Danny's been there.

So that's just something to keep an eye on, something that you might want to watch for. Coming up, a team I could actually see Cam Newton playing for this fall, and it's not in the NFL. This is The Drive. We're now the opposite of the front of sports talk because we're, well, we're back to it. Get it? Well, that's not funny. Back to The Drive. That's moronic.

With Josh Graham. Okay, I'm going to add a disclaimer and a warning on the front end here. I don't expect this to come into fruition.

And you're going to think what I'm about to say sounds crazy. But hear me out. After striking out on an Al Michaels trade, ESPN, this is according to reports this week, has also failed to lure Peyton Manning into its Monday Night Football booth. So ESPN still looking to land a splashy hire, try to find somebody that will generate interest other than Booger McFarland standing next to Joe Tessitore. There is an option I think ESPN and Disney should explore. I think the next phone call they make should be Cam Newton. Now, it does seem like Cam does not want to go out this way. He has a lot to prove.

He thinks he can get out on the field and play right now. I've watched the Instagram videos. Robert, have you seen these by the way?

There was no question he was going to pass this physical. I've only seen his comments underneath. I love his little Wingdings font. He uses. We should have a Slack or a group chat that we only use that font.

Only that to the layout. So Cam, I'm not saying he's going to be pursued by ESPN. I'm just saying if I am an executive, a TV exec, a phone call I'm making is to Cam Newton.

He would be flashy. That would be the hire ESPN wanted with Al Michaels, with Peyton Manning, handsome MVP quarterback, polarizing. He'd moved the needle more than any other analyst we've seen on Monday Night Football since Howard Cosell.

The suits, his font, his fans, his haters, they're all going to flock to watch Monday Night Football and hear what he has to say. The market, it isn't there for Cam right now. Patriots beat reporter for the athletic just put out there, one of the Patriots beat reporters, that the Patriots have no immediate interest in adding Cam.

That was 15 minutes ago. So Cam is likely looking at a backup role. Last week I told you that that was the league perception on Cam right now. The league perception is he's going to have to compete in camp in order to get on the field or accept a backup role. If Cam doesn't want to do that, he could get a pay upgrade this opportunity. What do you think Cam Newton is going to make? Right now we're not talking about the fit, what type of role he's going to have, competing for a starting job or being a backup. What type of salary do you think that draws, Robert?

I honestly don't know the answer to that. What kind of salary? Even though he's a former MVP, I think it would be a little bit higher than regular backups, maybe like 8 to 16 mil, somewhere in there. 8 to 16 mil. Tony Romo just signed a $17 million contract with CBS. Apparently ESPN was ready to up that for Peyton. So it could be a pay upgrade for Cam Newton to be on Monday Night Football. He could get back into football, he could sell it as, all right, I just want to take a hiatus.

I want to make sure everything's good. I know he just had a physical. Adam Schefter says that the Panthers helped orchestrate it. He's healthy, he's hungry, he's ready to go. But he could say, you know what, I'm just going to take a step back here. I'm going to get into the booth and if a better opportunity is available to me next spring, I might pursue that. The same way Jason Witten did.

Jason Witten, older than Cam, he stepped away from the game, went into the Monday Night Football booth, then returned to the Cowboys and he just signed a contract with the Oakland Raiders. So Cam might look at the market and say, this is not very good for me right now. I'm going to make my chicken, is that the right expression to use? In the words of Marshawn Lynch, nailed it.

You could do that this year and then look at the options next year, which will probably be better than the market that we currently see at this moment. The moment Cam being released by the Carolina Panthers. So this is the case that I'm making here. ESPN should call Cam Newton to see if he's interested in Monday Night Football. I think there's more he can do than just Monday Night Football. It's one of the selling points of ESPN.

It's partnership with Disney and all the other networks that they have. He asked Tony Romo what he liked about being with Jim Nantz. We learned since he signed this new extension. He loved the fact that he could just fly to a game on a weekend, call a game with Nantz and then fly home and that's the extent of his week. If you worked at ESPN, it would have been a lot different. If Romo chose ESPN, he'd be scheduled to be on get up once or twice a week. He would be asked to do stuff on first take, Scott Van Pelt's Sports Center.

Many other things are available there. I don't think Romo is the type of guy who is interested in all of that. Cam, I've talked about this before, his next opportunity, whenever his football career ends, I think is in television. It's in entertainment. I don't think it's going to be the analysis in a studio, but if he's one of the faces of a network for ESPN, you put him in the booth next to Joe Tessitore on Monday Night Football, I think that makes sense.

I've said this as well. I could see him taking the Michael Strahan route. Michael Strahan, he was a guy who only did the Sunday stuff for Fox and now he's on Good Morning America. What is Good Morning America a property of?

Disney. So maybe Cam, he looks at that as a potential option. Maybe he thinks, much like Peyton Manning got his Peyton's Places show and John Gruden had his quarterback, what was that called, he had that quarterback show where he brought in a bunch of the draft prospects and got them coached up and had them take the field for some drills and had them drawing things on a blackboard. It was Gruden's quarterback camp. There's something for Cam and I think he has an interest in television. He did the kid show after the Super Bowl appearance. He's been on game shows. So I don't think it's NFL Live or one of these shows that breaks down the games every day of the week. I don't think it's talk radio.

I don't think it's a get up or anything like that. I think it's maybe being on a booth, Monday Night Football, being one of the faces of a network, but also getting your pop culture fix, which we know Cam has an interest in as well, the way that Michael Strahan does on Good Morning America. So there's the pitch that I have. Aaron, is there something you just read that you need to pass to our attention? It's official. Oh, that the Panthers cut, Cam? It happened. It's all over. Who announced it? Per the Carolina Panthers as of five minutes ago, just now. They better do one of those big graphics, one of those videos, because last week didn't quite do the job.

It was awkward. You had the statements out there. But if some of these other dudes are going to get tribute videos, Cam deserves one of those as well. And the Panthers have one of the best content generating teams that anybody in professional sports has.

I'm sure they will, but at this point, especially, like you said, after last week and how this is how this is going, I mean, why or what? It's like you get a birthday present and you don't like it enough. So then your parents are like, oh, we got you this. Well, it's too late now. It appears that this has already happened on Instagram.

There's a three minute video that you can watch. I want to watch this right now. Do you think him not jumping on the fumble is going to make it in there? I would say that's a career defining moment for him.

Oh, stop it. Is it not? It's not career defining.

I think it's pretty big. If you are one of the biggest red zone threats, the biggest red zone threat in the history of the NFL, I would say the Houston Texan somersault touchdown defines him more than not jumping on a football, especially since he was the MVP of the league that year. The reason they got into that game and they were 15 and 1. So I don't think that one play should define him more than the Herculean stuff that he's done pretty much all the rest of that season. And most of his career, he's been healthy to play for Carolina. If you look up Cam Newton memes, I would bet that a large majority of them would be him in suits and then him trying to jump on that. I'm not disagreeing with you that that's the way some people were going to perceive him.

I just don't think it's fair to say that's how his career is going to be defined. Joe Person's going to join us from the athletic to talk about this big Carolina Panthers news. He's been there every step of the way in Cam's career.

He's here in 20 minutes. The sports hub time machine was a big hit yesterday. And we're going to explore what this show would have sounded like looking at the city of Charlotte when the Hornets traded Kobe Bryant nearly 24 years ago. That's next on the drive. You could try getting your sports news and talk somewhere else. My life sucks quite enough already that you best to leave it right here on the drive with Josh Graham So the Panthers made it official. They are releasing Cam Newton.

We're going to talk to Joe Person about this in 15 minutes. I'm emotional here in studio because they just put out this three minute tribute video that I watched during the time out on Instagram. And anything that has that soft piano in the background with an orchestra. I don't know what the content has to be where I'm not going to get emotional hearing that I'm a sucker for piano. Every single Tom Rinaldi feature on ESPN or college game day.

It gets me every single time. So if you are a big Panthers fan or like Cam Newton, that's a place you should go on Instagram. I'm sure it's going to be on Twitter soon. But the Panthers, they put out in a release one quote from an executive.

It wasn't from David Tepper. It wasn't from Panthers coach Ron Rivera, Matt Ruhl. Eventually, I'm going to get used to the changes.

I haven't completely gotten there yet. It's still strange to think that Cam Newton is no longer going to be a Panther. I haven't adjusted to that the same way I haven't adjusted to Luke Kuechly not being here anymore. Greg Olson, Ron Rivera.

I'm not used to it. Marty Hurney, he had this statement. He said, quote, Cam has meant a lot to this organization in the Carolinas. Everyone saw his performances on the field. I had the privilege of seeing how Hardy worked off the field and his commitment to this team when no one was watching.

He's the ultimate competitor and it physically hurts him to lose. He willed his team to victory on many occasions and will always be considered one of the greatest players in the history of this franchise. His contributions to this team, this community, and the game of football will leave a lasting impact on our organization.

Again, we'll talk more about this with Joe Person in a bit. The Sports Hub time machine was a big hit on yesterday's show. We went back and figured out how the drive with Josh Graham would have sounded after the Austin Rivers game winning shot and after the Panthers Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots in 2004.

We've got a couple more today. We're going to be doing this all week. How about one of the biggest what ifs in North Carolina sports history? The Charlotte Hornets in 1996 deciding to trade Kobe Bryant to the Los Angeles Lakers. What would it sound like if the drive with Josh Graham were here for some of the greatest moments in sports history?

Today we find out. Let's fire up the Sports Hub time machine. I have decided to skip college and take my talent to the NBA. Welcome to the Kobe Show.

Take two. With the 13th pick in the 1996 NBA draft, the Charlotte Hornets select Kobe Bryant from Lower Merrion High School in Pennsylvania. Bob Bass came to me and told me that here we got a possibility of getting one of the best centers in the league. What a big day it is for Charlotte Hornets basketball. We got Vlade Divac. Vlade Divac is on the team and man, greatness is ahead. Yes, Muggsy Bogues. Looking at the rest of this roster here. We can build this around Glen Rice. I love what's happening here. Del Curry, we needed somebody to replace Grandmama.

We found it in Vlade Divac and what did it cost us? Just this high school guard. And the Lakers, they haven't been relevant since Magic got HIV.

I don't think anybody thinks this is really going to work. A guard out of high school? Like Kevin Garnett, he was okay last year. But give me an example of somebody who's been great as a guard coming out of high school. Heck, just give me an example of someone who's great out of high school because guess what? Garnett, I'm not completely sold of him yet. Man these guys, they're passing up being a part of these college teams.

These me guys. Oh, Kobe Bryant. So much swagger. I'm not going to pass the ball. I could do it myself. I could jump to the NBA even though I haven't played that much basketball.

I played just as much soccer in Italy before I went to lower Marion in Philly. Oh, this guy's going to go and change the Charlotte Hornets and now change the Los Angeles Lakers? Good luck with that one. Vlady Devock. We got him, Robert. We got him. I don't even know why I stayed up to watch the draft last night. I just dropped like 250 bucks on my new Sega. I could have been playing Pong. What?

You got Sega? I know. I wanted to invite you over, but I don't know how to work it yet.

I haven't really got it punched into my TV. But you guys come over. Play Pong.

We could play Pitfall. I got all the cool games. Aaron. What do you think, man?

We got Vlady. I'm going to get myself a jersey. Sega. You missed the boat. The Nintendo 64 is where it's at.

Oh, come on, man. You got to jump on the Nintendo 64. The Nintendo 64? What am I going to play on that?

What's as good as Pong? Oh, man. They got Goldeneye.

The James Bond. They got the Mario 64. It's in 3D. I don't know, man. I feel like violence in video games is going to really mess these kids up. I agree. I can't even listen to like... Tupac just came out with a new album a little bit ago. Love that guy.

All eyes on me. Yeah, dude. It slaps, but I'm worried that it's going to incite violence in these kids. No, man. Yeah. No. I think everything's going to be fine. Yeah.

Of course. Like, we're always going to have Tupac. Oh, he'll live forever.

Yeah. I bet Tupac is going to be a big fan of Lottie Deebak. I could see him wearing in his next music video a Vlottie jersey. You know who I hope doesn't last forever? What? Bob Dole. That's all he got. The nomination. Dude, I've never heard a more boring name in my life.

I would rather vote for Dole Bob than Bob Dole. I'm going to sleep thinking about his name. Yeah. This is really just a big monumental day, a massive day in the history of North Carolina sports. Mark it down. It is the summer of 1996, and we have all show to spend time talking about this big trade.

The hornet's getting Vlottie Deebak for this Kobe Bryant guy. I mean, come on now. What are we doing here? All right. But we got... I got a hot take here, okay? Coming up, I'll tell you why I see Dean Smith coaching for the next 15 years. That's coming up on the drive.

All right. That's how our show sounded 24 years ago. It's amazing. Our voices haven't changed that much.

I'm glad Bob Dole does not come on the show anymore. Yeah. I was thinking about this because I was thinking about how 2020 me would explain 2019 me, explain to him what the hell's happened the first three months of this year.

Like explain to them, yeah, Kobe Bryant is not alive anymore. What? Oh yeah. On top of that, the NCAA tournament never happened. What? Well, what are we talking about? It was supposed to be in Greensboro.

The ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament, yeah, it didn't happen. Tom Brady is a buccaneer. What? Insane. Aaron, what do you got in front of you? Aaron is waving his arms at me, flailing them. This better be a big deal because you've been known to do this and it's not.

No, I ain't known to do that. You are. You would wave and flail your arms at me and say, Damian Williams just signed an extension. Damian Williams just won a Super Bowl, so... What do you got? Anyway, Robbie Anderson is now a Carolina Panther. Stop.

I'm kidding, I'm serious. I know you're serious, but you made it sound like, in times like this, Aaron, in times like this, in times like this, where the city of Charlotte is getting the stay at home notice, leaving your arms at me about Robbie Anderson being signed, isn't exactly what we're looking for. A segment after the breaking news was the Panthers just released Cam Newton. I can see it now, Robbie Anderson open down the left sideline, PJ Walker drops back to pass. Roughnecks, the question is, who's going to wear number 11, PJ or Robbie Anderson? Got to be PJ. PJ's the MVP. Do you know who talked to PJ last night?

Joe Person from The Athletic had a one-on-one with PJ Walker. He is the only Panthers beat writer who's been there every step of the way covering Cam Newton, who has been officially released in the last hour. So this is a guy that I'm interested to get stories from because he is just a fascinating figure as someone who just covered the home games. I can tell you, I have a number of Cam stories. So I wonder what he could tell us from practice, from being on the road with Carolina.

I mean, nine years, it's a very long time. So Joe will share some of his Cam stories with us next on The Drive. Josh Graham loves to talk sports.

He also loves to wear itchy clothes so he has an excuse to scratch himself. More on The Drive with Josh Graham. So the breaking news is the Carolina Panthers have signed former Temple wide receiver, former Jet Robbie Anderson to a two-year $20 million contract.

It all seems to have a purpose. It all seems to fit into a plan for Carolina as the Panthers. They are in a rebuild. They're veering more towards shorter contracts than long-term deals. They're veering more towards youth and they are veering more towards guys.

They could see in evaluation-like settings if they're going to be long-term fits. Every single one of the Panthers' transactions so far other than Russell Okun has been younger than 29 years old. Every single contract the Panthers have signed to this point other than Teddy Bridgewater's and Trey Boston's has been two years or shorter and Robbie Anderson's fits into that. And Teddy's contract is really a two-year deal when you consider the third year doesn't have any guaranteed money on it.

So it's all starting to become clearer and clearer. The Panthers, they officially released Cam Newton this hour. So now we're being joined by Joe Person who's been there every step of the career of Cam Newton and there's a lot of other Panthers stuff to get to as well. Before we get to Cam, what do these signings, the wide receiver one-year deals for Kirkwood, for Seth Roberts and now Robbie Anderson, what do the length of these deals, the type of players they're bringing in, tell you about the plan for Marty Hurney and Matt Ruhl?

Yeah, I mean, load up on weapons. I don't know that I would characterize all those guys as legit weapons in this league but certainly Robbie Anderson qualifies. That guy still has elite speed, he's a game-breaker, he is, frankly, you wonder if he may make Curtis Samuel obsolete because he basically plays that same position which is the Z opposite DJ Moore at X.

Kind of like yesterday when we saw them load up on a quarterback and go get the XFL guy, PJ Walker, then the other shoe to fall or drop was obviously Kyle Allen. So maybe that doesn't happen with Curtis Samuel, you don't want to get rid of all your weapons clearly, but I like the Robbie Anderson pickup for sure. He's on Twitter at josephperson, read his stuff in The Athletic, what he and Jordan Rodriguez are doing at The Athletic, it's made everything very clear, there are a lot of people wondering why the news of Cam Newton being cut shortly followed the breaking news from Adam Schefter where the Panthers and their medical athletic team, they in conjunction with Cam Newton and his agency had a workout in Atlanta yesterday, a physical, excuse me, and that was a past physical, why that was important and Jordan outlined in a story I think earlier this week that it allows for Carolina to cut Cam without having to owe him anything. You have the $2 million cap hit but you can cut him essentially and he can't file a grievance against Carolina the same way say Michael Lord did and they came to some sort of a settlement. They would have to have a failed physical designation for Cam if they cut him without him getting a physical in a time where it's difficult to get one. Was that your understanding for why those two events came as closely as they did?

Well yeah, I mean there was a couple different things. I mean this is a time in our world that none of us has ever lived through before and the NFL like a whole lot of other people and organizations have restricted travel and trying to keep people safe and so there were two people that had to get physicals for the Panthers, both kind of on neutral ground so to speak and that was Teddy Bridgewater and Cam Newton. Adams was the one that of course had the most scrutiny around it because he's had now three surgeries since the end of the 2016 season but he did go and the Panthers had sat kind of behind closed doors all along and they thought he would pass the physical. Now it's important to note that passing a physical and being the quarterback you will in the first part of last decade, those are two different things. Can Cam Newton still be effective at 31 years old?

Absolutely. But he is not, he's going to have to do it differently and to Ron Rivera's credit and North Turner's credit, they tried to make the best they could with Cam Newton 2.0. There was a lot more precision passes, a lot of dump-offs to Christian McCaffrey, not as much running from Cam Newton and it was good enough to get to the playoffs in 2017, albeit a quick exit and then in 2018, the first half of the year they looked like they were on their way back to the playoffs, Cam hurts his shoulder again and that was sort of the beginning of the end, that Thursday night game in Pittsburgh and kind of circled that one as kind of when the wheels began to come off for the Panthers, for Ron Rivera and for Cam Holden. What's your favorite Cam Newton memory from off the field as somebody who covered every step of his Panthers career?

Yeah, that's a great question. In fact, Jordan and I are posting something right now on the Athletic that's sort of a behind the scenes appreciation of Cam, so to speak, and there were a lot of them. I mean, like you said, I mean, I remember when he was drafted during the lockout and he was already this bigger than life's, you know, character, this Superman, so to speak, and having won the Heisman, having led Auburn to the national championship. Anyway, the NFL briefly lifted the lockout just so these guys like Cam and who else was in that draft? Von Miller. Blaine Gabbard.

Yeah, they could get in their buildings and be introduced. Well, I remember it was a big deal for Jordan Gross, and the same weekend he was having a charity kickball tournament, and he got Cam to come out, and Cam shows up and he's sort of like kind of, I forget, he wasn't exactly coming straight from the press conference, but he was not dressed for a charity kickball tournament. He did not have sneakers on, but Gross just, you know, had Cam come, he knew what it meant. Jordan Gross knew what his arrival meant to this franchise, and he has told me over the years how appreciative he was that Cam, you know, it was sort of a way for him to ingratiate himself with a lot of veterans on this team.

That's just one of many, but that was one of the early memories I've had of Cam. Out there playing kickball with Jordan Gross and other veteran players, doing a lockout in dress shoes. Me and Jordan, we were actually talking last week about what Cam's next step after football is going to be. Not saying that this is it for sure, but I think this is a guy who has an interest in entertainment and television, maybe not in a studio discussing football, but I think the same way Michael Strahan's on, like, Good Morning America, I could see Cam Newton being that, and I threw this out on Twitter, not because I think it's going to happen, but I don't think it's the craziest thing. ESPN's looking for a splashy Monday Night Football guy, and there aren't a lot of jobs right now for Cam Newton.

It's not a great market. It could be a pay upgrade, $17, $18, $20 million, that's what's being thrown out there, that's what Romo signed at CBS. Would it be the craziest thing, Cam Newton being pursued by ESPN? Maybe not taking it, but ESPN saying, Hey, let's take a look. Yeah, maybe, maybe, I don't know, I think Cam still has too much to prove on the football field.

I think that would be an admission of defeat, and would be that the other guys won, however you want to frame it, this is as competitive a guy as I've ever been around, and so I don't think he's going to go quietly into the broadcast booth. Down the road, maybe, I think it's more likely we see him in Los Angeles. If we see him, you know, to be the Chargers make the most sense. And I saw the tweets last week in the news that they're sticking with Tyrod Taylor, but I just don't buy it going into a new stadium, that guy, you know, he doesn't have any juice. He's fine in Buffalo, whatever, but you know, the Chargers are competing, especially after all that we're going to have gone through now, assuming the football season even starts on time, and their stadium opens as scheduled, they've got to fill it.

They need a megawatt-type stall, and Cam is just, like to me, the obvious choice. You know, their doctors, as I said, it's one thing, you know, you pass a physical. These other teams, their doctors want to, you know, they want to check it out before they, you know, Cam's got to, he's starting from scratch now.

He needs a new contract, and he's, you know, he's not going to want like a one-year deal, and so I get why these teams would want to be cautious and have their own medical personnel take a look at that shoulder and that left foot. Joe, I know you're very busy, I know times are kind of interesting for everybody, especially in the city of Charlotte. Be well, and thank you so much for fitting us in. Hey, Josh, you be safe and healthy as well, and thanks for having me on.

You got it. That's Joe Person. He's on Twitter, at Joseph Person, read his stuff, and the Athletic Carolinas.

I'm on the same page with Joe. I don't buy the Tyrod Taylor tweet from last week. I think the Chargers are the best option for Cam.

I think Cam Newton is the best option for the Chargers. After that, I still have the Miami Dolphins as that dark horse team. Then you start getting into secondary markets, maybe the New York Giants, you rekindle that relationship with Dave Gettleman. That wasn't a bad one, the way that it was for Steve Smith, the way that it was for some other star players that he parted ways with and ruffled feathers with. I think if you look at the comments from Joe Judge, if you look at the comments from Dave Gettleman, they have not been very committal to Daniel Jones.

I think that would be an interesting thing to look at. Maybe if it's not the Giants, what about the Tennessee Titans? That's another team that could fit them in in the cap. I think top 10 in the NFL and cap space right now. Tannehill, he signed to an extension. That's good and well, but let's not forget how Tannehill became the starter there. He, much like Cam Newton right now, took a risk, is likely going to have to take a risk. And he decided to go to a place where Marcus Mariota was the number two pick just a handful of years prior to that. And he won that job in the middle of the year, took his team to the AFC championship game, got the big extension. That's likely going to be what Cam Newton has to do. So if you're completely sold on Ryan Tannehill, all power to you. I'm not, and I think Cam might relish the opportunity to compete with that guy if that opportunity should present itself. We haven't had much time to open up the phone lines this hour.

336-777-1600 is the phone number. We're on Twitter at sportsubtriad. What's your reaction to everything that's happened? The Panthers releasing Cam officially and trying to cover that up by signing Robby Anderson. Like the Panthers, they're smart, they know what they're doing here. Okay, here's the video, get emotional, get all worked up, oh man, I miss Cam.

And then 15 minutes later, hit them with a Robby Anderson, here he is. That's what it is essentially, Robert, you're feeling all sad. It's kind of like, okay, you know your pet you had your entire childhood, well it got old and it went up the farm. It ran away and we don't think it's going to come back. But here's a pet gerbil, right? Like you're sad for a second, oh no, Fluffy's not coming home. But here's a new gerbil, okay, oh yeah, I mean I was sad, 15 minutes later, hit them with the gerbil. My dog!

Here comes the gerbil. I'll never be upset about another Robby getting paid, we got to stick together. Who is the greatest Robby? Oh, it'd probably be like Robert De Niro or... Oh no, Robby, people that go by Robby.

I don't know. That's a good question, yesterday we were talking about Woodrow Hamilton, who's a Panthers defensive lineman, not a former president. There aren't many Woodrow Hamiltons out there. There aren't many grown men who go by Robby, but we have one in this studio and Robby Anderson was just signed by the Panthers. So is Robby Anderson the best Robby that you could come up with?

Yes, Aaron. Only Robby I can come up with is Robby Gould. Oh, Robby Gould.

I'd take Robby Anderson over Robby Gould, bleeping kickers. Yeah. Well, the Robby I can think of. Right.

Not a very long list. It's a pretty good Robby that we've got here. It's a pretty good Robby.

I appreciate it. This is a good Robby. It's a good Robby.

Are you talking about Robby Anderson or Robby Walsh? I don't know, though. You are listening to WSJS Winston-Salem, WCOG Greensboro, WPCM Burlington, WMFR High Point, those signals making up Sports Hub Triad. So our Sports Hub Time Machine segments from yesterday got a lot of feedback. Surprisingly, most of it was positive. Usually when people do different things, it's not met well. This was. Now, there were some critics of it, of course.

But hey, you've got to try and do some different things, be a little bit creative. So here's what we've thought about. Over the weekend, you had a lot of retro games that were broadcast, North Carolina, Michael Jordan's game winning shot against Georgetown in 82, NC State in 83. That broadcast was shown in its entirety, NC State beating Houston in that upset win, Christian Leitner's shot, seen some throwback NFL games, they've been airing old Wrestlemanias and people have been responding to it. So our radio show, we're closing in on two years being on the air here on Sports Hub Triad. So I thought it would be a good idea for us to take what we do on our show back in time to see what it would have sounded like if our show was broadcast after big moments in North Carolina sports history, but even nationally things that might have been happening at different times. So some ideas for what you might want us to explore in our Sports Hub Time Machine on Twitter at Sports Hub Triad and at Josh Graham Radio.

Here's the one we're doing right now. We're going back to 1980 when Duke hired this coach named Mike Krzyzewski. What would it sound like if the drive with Josh Graham were here for some of the greatest moments in sports history?

Today, we find out. Let's fire up the Sports Hub Time Machine. 1980. What? Now I remember. 1980.

Comedian Richard Pryor has critical burns suffered in an accident involving a cigarette lighter. That's right. That's right.

We're bad. Top story this hour, Led Zeppelin apparently breaking up. Big giant oversized radios become the fashion.

It's called a ghetto blaster. And the comedy airplane soars high above the rest. Surely you can't be serious. I am serious. And don't call me Shirley.

Most commercials are an insult to my stupidity. 1980. There is no doubt in my mind that Mike was the brightest young coaching talent in America. First of all, it's K-R-Z-Y-Z-E-W-S-K-I. It's an honor to be named head basketball coach at Duke.

I've come from what I think is one of the greatest schools in the world, United States Military Academy, to another school that I think is one of the greatest schools in the world, Duke University. How do you say this guy's name? How do we spell it?

Thanks, Duke. Giving us a coach we're not going to be able to spell or pronounce for any time being. Like, what are we supposed to call this guy?

Like, what's a short way we can describe Mike Kraszewski or however you pronounce this, Robert? I don't know. The dude has a huge nose. That's really all I can stare at. The whole press conference.

That's all I can get out of him. And where was this press conference being held? Somebody's house? Yeah. What was that? Like, it just looked very... It was tacky. That's the word.

Tacky. Aaron, what do you think? He ain't going anywhere. I mean, he's no Norm Sloan. Like NC State, they're figuring it out now. Like Jim Valvano, is he ever going to win a title?

Like Norm Sloan won in 74 with David Thompson and Burleson. But come on now, like, what's Duke doing here? This is not Bill Foster. And I think this program, it's going to go to hell to use the pun because, you know, he leaves to replace Coach Maguire at South Carolina.

I get that decision. But hiring this guy that nobody knows from Army, Kraszewski, how are we supposed to pronounce this name? Robert, do you want to take a crack at trying to spell this man's name?

I couldn't spell this if it was right in front of me. Should we call him Coach Mike? Coach Mike has a nice ring to it. Coach Mike.

That's probably the way to do it. Somebody said Coach K. Oh, come on. Like he's done something.

Oh, you own a letter. Coach K. Coach K. Yes. That's that's what we're going to call him. Coach K. Coach Ski. Coach Ski. Coach Ski. Coach Ski. Coach Ski. I like it.

Wow. I like skiing. Coach Ski.

Speaking of skiing, did you guys see Jimmy Carter said the USA is going to boycott the Olympics? Robert, stick to sports. I'm just saying, man, it's in Moscow. Like what are we doing there? No politics. Let's not do it. I hate the Ruskies. Man, what part of stick to sports do you not understand? I can't help it.

Like people don't want their politics with sports. Oh, we also have a happy birthday today, Josh. Who's birthday?

Happy birthday to Harvey Weinstein. Oh, he's making a lot of great movies. He's got a future. That guy.

He's got more of a future than this coach. What do we call him? Coach Ski Guy? I don't know, man.

Something like that guy. Just don't sit right with me. Oh, stop it, Aaron. Come on, man. What are you doing?

He's just a guy. Moving out of that very quickly, Robert, I want you to try and spell this coach's name. Give it a shot. K. R. OK. Y. Crew. Crew. Crew. Crew. You're already wrong.

Just throw a ski in there and wrap it up. You're already wrong. I've been wrong this whole day. It's 1980. Do we have sounds on the radio?

I don't know. Boing, boing, boing. Aaron, do you want to take a shot at trying to spell Mike Krzyzewski's name? I got it. I nailed it. What was it?

Mike Krzyzewski. That's how you say it. I'm going to hit that sound again.

Boing, boing, boing. Aaron, do you want to give it a shot? We're certain it starts with a K. It does.

I wish I could look this up on some kind of electrical device, but honestly, all I have is this paper press release. I just have a piece of paper in front of me. I got the Winston-Salem Journal sitting here.

I also have the Britannica Encyclopedia, but this is nothing about any coach ski in here. All right. Aaron, give it your best shot. K-R-Z-Y-C-H-E-W-S-K-I.

No! You somehow got this K-R-Z-Y. Where does that Z come from? K-R-Z-Y-Z-E-W-S-K-I. How do you say it again? That's what I said. Kraszewski? This is where we're at right now. Kraszewski. I'd rather work on this Rubik's cube I just got.

Have you seen one of these yet? He peeled all the stickers off. Don't even listen to him. I watched him when I got in here.

He had peeled them off and he was putting the red on one side. Oh, come on, Aaron. This thing is challenging. It's revolutionary.

Never seen something like this before. I bet that is revolutionary. Speaking of revolutionary, have you guys seen the new Star Wars movie? Oh, The Last Jedi?

Don't think that's out yet. I think it's Empire Strikes Back. Oh, Empire Strikes Back. Yeah, I think that's the one. Because I... What movie were you talking about?

Yeah, the last... There are plenty of them. Come on!

I'm a screenwriter. Dude, that's a good idea. You should try to do that.

Pitch it? All right, I'm going to pitch it, but I haven't seen the new Star Wars. I haven't.

You need to check it out. That of a big furry dude named Chewbacca. Dude, that sounds... I would rather have a coach named Chewbacca than Coach Krasonski. Krasonski.

That actually reminds me. Coming up, I watched a movie this weekend, Airplane, and I'll tell you why I don't think that actually is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar next on the drive. That wasn't a great Harvey Weinstein reference there. I don't know how old he was going to be. I just saw it was his birthday. That wasn't awesome.