Cam Newton joined Robin Lundberg of Sports Illustrated to discuss his media career and talk the NFL playoffs, including how his game manager take about Brock Purdy and others has aged.
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00:00 I'm Robert Lundberg joined now by Cam Newton,
00:02 of course, longtime NFL quarterback,
00:05 media personality now.
00:06 He's got iconic soccer productions,
00:08 fourth in one podcast,
00:09 Funky Fridays, I think, launching in February as well.
00:12 So Cam, you wear a lot of hats.
00:15 One of them was a helmet.
00:16 How do you like that media type hat you got on right now?
00:19 - Yeah, I like what you did with that, Robert.
00:22 That's a vet move.
00:23 But yeah, man, I love it.
00:24 I think, you know, we're living in a revolution right now
00:29 where, you know, athlete generated content in media
00:33 is at its all time high.
00:35 When I look at Draymond Green,
00:36 when I look at Steph Curry,
00:38 when I look at LeBron,
00:39 when I look at myself,
00:40 the pivot, Club Shea Shea,
00:45 you know, even Stephen A,
00:47 like a lot of athletes or sports personalities
00:50 have kind of merged into this lane of podcasting.
00:54 And, you know, I don't like to say
00:56 that I even have a podcast now
00:57 because the production is so high.
00:59 It's in essence an actual show.
01:02 But we've been able to identify
01:04 that we are able to give our take
01:07 without having a third party
01:09 kind of interfere with the narrative.
01:12 - Now, of course you gave your take
01:14 and it really blew up when you were talking
01:16 about game managers versus game changers.
01:19 A couple of those guys still around though
01:21 who fell into the former category.
01:23 Let's revisit them real quick.
01:26 Starting with Jared Goff.
01:27 How would you assess him right now?
01:29 - The same.
01:32 Like, it's, okay.
01:36 How would you assess Jared Goff?
01:38 Is he a top five quarterback?
01:40 - I'd say no.
01:43 - Okay.
01:43 So you feel the same way that I feel.
01:45 Like game changers are like the top,
01:47 look at it like tiers.
01:50 You know what I'm saying?
01:50 Like game changers are that 1% to 3%
01:53 of the NFL quarterbacks that is like,
01:57 we know who they are.
01:58 You know, would you take Patrick Mahomes
02:02 or Tua Tunga Valoa?
02:03 Would you take Patrick Mahomes over Dak Prescott?
02:06 Would you take Patrick Mahomes
02:08 or Lamar Jackson over Brock Parity?
02:13 And when you talk about the tiers,
02:15 the peak, the tip of the spear,
02:17 those guys, those are game changers.
02:20 And it's not a negative connotation by me expressing that,
02:25 but it's merely, it's the truth.
02:28 Is Brock Parity successful
02:30 if you put Brock Parity on the Texans?
02:33 CJ is a up and coming guy that did a lot for that team.
02:37 Is Brock Parity still getting all the accolades
02:40 if he's on the Las Vegas Raiders?
02:43 You see, like, that's my point.
02:46 So, you know, that's not to derail the truth of,
02:52 is he having a very elite season?
02:55 Absolutely.
02:56 I never not once said that they were bad players.
02:58 I just said that they were just game managers.
03:01 And there's more people that feel the same way too,
03:04 but they just don't want to kind of stand on the merit
03:08 because of what I said is backed by the truth.
03:11 And I asked you, Robin,
03:13 would you prefer to choose the Tua, the Jared, Brock,
03:17 or Dak in front of a unanimous game changer,
03:21 which is Patrick Mahomes?
03:23 You said no.
03:24 So that's why I'm standing on that.
03:27 Yeah, I would not choose those guys over Patrick Mahomes.
03:29 On that, we can agree.
03:31 Has Parity proven anything to you since then?
03:34 I mean, he, I'm totally in agreement with you
03:37 in the sense that he has advantageous circumstances
03:40 around him, but he's also made some plays off,
03:42 broken plays and the like,
03:43 and they've done a lot of winning.
03:44 Of course, of course.
03:47 But when you think about, you know,
03:49 what he's been able to do,
03:51 it'd be hard for anybody to say his performance
03:55 is outdone by C-Mat, Debo, you know, the defense.
04:00 You know what I'm saying?
04:03 I liked it.
04:03 We could cut through a lot of minutiae
04:08 if we just be honest with, okay,
04:11 Brock Parity is a great player.
04:13 He's having a great year, pro bowler, all pro,
04:17 however you want to look at it.
04:18 But at the same time, it's off the backs
04:21 of Christian McCaffrey, you know, Debo.
04:24 We've seen what he was able to do
04:25 when you took Trent Williams away,
04:28 Debo Samuels and, you know, Christian McCaffrey.
04:31 And it was very stale or stagnant,
04:35 but we have to start downloading what I'm saying,
04:41 not as hatred or suppressing talent,
04:43 but more or less about, it's just the truth.
04:48 - Yeah, look, I mean, I think when it's explained
04:51 a little bit more in depth like that
04:53 and with the nuance rather than the one clip,
04:55 I think you'll get a lot more agreement on that.
04:57 How about the guy who got eliminated?
05:00 Because in some ways he reminds me of you a little bit, Cam.
05:03 I'm sure you've probably gotten that before,
05:04 but where do you stand on Josh Allen?
05:06 - Yeah, but before I answer that,
05:10 I'll say that alone is the main reason
05:13 why athlete-generated content right now
05:16 is at its utmost importance.
05:18 And there's no denying, of course,
05:21 media for so long has been taken out of context.
05:24 And where the journalism,
05:27 whether it's print ads or whatever,
05:29 it's always been taken out of context
05:31 to the degree that makes or that leverages sales
05:36 for that specific content, whether it's a view,
05:39 whether it's, you know, buying a magazine,
05:42 whether it's buying a subscription on just
05:44 whatever you may have,
05:46 we know the strategies behind media,
05:49 what they will want that to be.
05:51 And they've tried to do it with this situation
05:54 and it was successful.
05:55 Cam Newton says, "Game changer and game manager."
05:58 Boom, that's just been the hot topic
06:00 for a lot of weeks here now.
06:01 But in years past, I wouldn't have been able
06:04 to say anything, probably not until
06:06 another Sports Illustrated article, ESPN,
06:11 you know, Fox Sport, like whatever that is,
06:14 but that has changed now.
06:16 To your question, as far as Josh Allen,
06:19 very, very, probably one of my favorite players
06:22 to kind of watch because, you know,
06:24 we share a lot of playing style similarities,
06:27 but there's a lot of different things
06:28 that Josh does different than me.
06:30 He's a lot better at a lot of different things.
06:34 And, you know, just seeing, you know,
06:37 what just transpired over the last week or so,
06:39 you know, I don't know.
06:43 I think the biggest question really is,
06:45 do we see the same Bills team
06:47 that we saw in this year next year?
06:51 So with that, that's about sustaining success too as well.
06:56 - Now, obviously you're seeing some success
06:59 with this phase of your career, your post-playing career,
07:02 but there was some talk earlier,
07:04 I saw you do an interview about the Falcons.
07:06 Obviously, part of that was geographic.
07:08 There's the links to Belichick.
07:10 Is that something you're serious about
07:12 going back and playing for the Falcons
07:13 or was that just having a little fun?
07:15 - The serious or not serious take will be discussed
07:20 on next week's episode of "4th in 1"
07:22 that you got to tune in to, Mr. Robin.
07:25 - All right, you got it down now.
07:28 You know how to plug.
07:29 That Cam Newton has "4th in 1," his podcast,
07:32 under his iconic saga productions.
07:34 Doing some work with Brandon Marshall, of course,
07:36 has "I Am Athlete" and "Paper Route,"
07:38 and obviously that is those athlete-generated things.
07:41 Before I let you go, Cam, Super Bowl predictions.
07:44 Who you got, Mahomes or Jackson?
07:47 And who are we gonna be more sick of
07:49 by the time the Super Bowl rolls around?
07:50 Taylor Swift for Eminem.
07:51 - I think the sports world loves nothing more
08:04 than a storyline and an underdog story.
08:11 And with that specific merit,
08:13 I think we see the Detroit Lions play
08:16 the Kansas City Chiefs.
08:18 But on another merit, we wanna see great juggernaut teams,
08:22 the 49ers, which we got a sneak peek of,
08:24 the 49ers versus the Baltimore Ravens.
08:27 It can go two different ways, man.
08:28 I think it will be kind of dope to see Detroit
08:33 with the face of it being Eminem
08:36 versus the Swifties in Kansas City.
08:39 So the storylines are already set up.
08:42 You know what I'm saying?
08:43 I think, you know, seeing the anticipation
08:49 on how it pans out is something
08:50 that we all are looking forward to.
08:52 - Well, Cam, I appreciate the time
08:54 and definitely after talking, looking forward
08:56 to seeing more of what you do going forward.