CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Cam Newton didn’t make the Pro Bowl team that was announced on Tuesday, and he’s definitely not in the conversation for a second NFL MVP award.
But Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera says his quarterback may be playing better now than he did in 2015, when Newton won the MVP award with a career-best 35 touchdowns passes to go with 10 rushing touchdowns.
“He’s hitting his stride right now," Rivera said on Wednesday. “Having gone through what he did during OTAs and minicamps coming out of the [rotator cuff] surgery, trying to get back into it during training and not really having the training camp that we as a football team could grow and develop as, I think he’s playing as well as he has in the past, if not better.