Each week the Carolina Panthers play in 2018, the Observer will choose a potential gamechanger — the player most likely to make a huge impact on the game. This week’s choice:
Linebacker Shaq Thompson
The backstory: When the Carolina Panthers and coach Ron Rivera were first scouting quarterback Cam Newton coming out of Auburn in 2011, there was one thing about him that kept showing up on film.
Or rather, that didn’t show up ... at least not as Rivera expected. Even though the buzz around Newton, at 6-foot-5 and 245 pounds, was that he was a running quarterback, Rivera saw something else when he watched the tape.