Twelve games into his startling rookie campaign, Cam Newton has developed a zero-tolerance policy for losing. If Carolina was looking for a company man -- some meek figurehead -- its quarterback has only brought fire.
In his first national interview in months, Newton didn't shy away from sending a strongly worded message to the Panthers.
“What happens when you take a lion out of the safari and try to take him to your place of residence and make him a house pet? ... It ain’t going to happen,” Newton told ESPN this week.
"That's the type of person that I am. I'm that lion. The house that I’m in is somewhat of a tarnished house where losing is accepted. But I’m trying to change that, whether I'm going to have to turn that house into a safari or I'm just going to have to get out of that house.”
Newton took a moment to clarify: "I'm not trying to leave this place. I'm just trying to get everybody on my level."
Bold words from a rookie, which might be interpreted the wrong way by some, but Cam is no regular first-year quarterback.
He is, by all accounts, a lion.