CAROLINA PANTHERS / 18.1 / 19

DEFINING THE QUARTERBACKFORMER PANTHERS QUARTERBACKS

DISH ON CAM NEWTON AND LIFE AFTER FOOTBALL

Collins, the very first draft choice the Panthers ever made, played in 45 games between the team’s inaugural season in 1995 and 1998, when he left under unusual circumstances that today, at age 43, he can best describe as “growing pains.” Collins was in his early 20s at the time and later went into alcohol rehabilitation, then emerged on the other end to play a total of 17 seasons in the NFL.

“Looking back on it now, 20 years later, gosh, I was so young and had so many things I had to figure out,” said Collins, who helped guide the Panthers to the 1996 NFC West division title and the NFC championship game. “I had to figure out how to be a pro and how to handle the situation I was in. I didn’t have those things figured out when I was in Carolina, and unfortunately there are things I wish I had done differently.”

“But that was all part of the process for me. It was a big learning curve and unfortunately, my story evolved from going through those things to ultimately coming out on the other end a better pro, a better person, a healthier person. And so, that’s just the way it went.”

Life has turned out well for Collins, who married his wife, Brooke, in 2002. They have an 11-year-old daughter, Riley. He still points to the trials and tribulations he went through in Carolina as a pivotal turning point.

“I think the most positive thing to come out of it was the way I turned my life around as a person, not necessarily as a football

player,” Collins said. “Of course it helped me as a football player in terms of the success I was able to have on the field, but more importantly it helped me to lead a better life. I was able to learn from those things and try and do better. I had a lot of help along the way and I’m very fortunate for that. Through the help of a lot of good people, I was able to figure things out and turn my life around.”

Collins threw for 208 touchdowns overall in his career, made it to a Super Bowl in 2000 as the starting quarterback of the New York Giants, and retired in 2011 after passing for more than 40,000 yards. That ranks 16th all time, just ahead of a couple guys named Joe Montana and Johnny Unitas.

With 8,306 passing yards and 47 touchdowns as a Panther, Collins still ranks fourth on the team’s all-time list in both categories. But he marvels at what Newton has been able to do.

“Well, I think, first of all he’s a physically imposing person,” said Collins, who, at 6-foot-5 and 247 pounds when he played, is almost exactly the same size as Newton.

“He’s got the size and all the physical attributes of a QB. But I think he’s probably the best combination of runner and passer that has come into the NFL ever. So you add all those things in, plus he seems to be a heck of a competitor and the guys seem to follow him … you put that all together and it’s a pretty good package.”

These days, Collins lives with his family mostly in Nashville, Tennessee, where he spends his spare time playing guitar and writing country-music songs (some of which have been recorded professionally by artists). But the family also keeps a 1,600-acre ranch in Montgomery County in North Carolina, where Collins occasionally goes hunting with his favorite receiving target with the Panthers, tight end Wesley Walls.

“Retirement has been great,” Collins said. “I was one of the fortunate ones. I got to play as long as I wanted to play. I was ready to move on by the time I retired.”

The three quarterbacks who came before Cam and made 45 career starts or more with the franchise reflected on this recently, as well as dishing on life after football. To a man, they said they are mightily impressed with the job Newton is doing under center for the Panthers and fine with the fact that one day he probably will hold every team record they may have once held dear.

Here is what the three former Carolina QBs had to say:

Kerry Collins1995-1998

First, Cam Newton redefined the quarterback position for the Carolina Panthers. Then he began

an assault on the team record books.He already owns every rushing record for a

quarterback in team history – and not by a little, but by a whole lot. Now he

stands on the brink of establishing nearly every passing record in

team history.

BY JOE MENZER

20 / www.panthers.com CAROLINA PANTHERS / 18.1 / 21

DEFINING THE QUARTERBACK

When Collins’ tenure with the team ended four games into the 1998 season, Steve Beuerlein was thrust into the starting role he had craved but been unable to enjoy much during the previous seven seasons of his career. The results were remarkable.

Beuerlein started the last 12 games of the 1998 season and put together arguably the best passing season of any Panthers’ quarterback before or since in 1999, completing 60.1 percent of his throws for 4,436 yards and 36 touchdowns. His number of completions (343) and attempts (571) that year remain single-season team records, as does the yardage and number of touchdowns.

“It was a vindication in a lot of ways of what I believed I could do. And I just needed to get the chance and be in the right situation,” said Beuerlein, who appeared in 59 games overall across five seasons for the Panthers, throwing for 86 touchdowns against only 54 interceptions. “It seemed like just about everywhere I went along the way in my career, just when it looked as if I had myself in what appeared to be a good situation, it ended up taking a bad turn – whether a coach got fired or whatever the situation might have been.”

“I had a lot of adversity, a lot of ups and downs. And that’s the way it is for most quarterbacks who aren’t first-round draft choices or high second-round draft choices. You don’t have a whole lot handed to you. You’ve got to take advantage of every opportunity, and you just don’t know when you’re going to get that next chance.”

Despite his prolific passing numbers, Beuerlein said he knows he is perhaps best remembered by Panthers’ fans for a play that he made with his feet. It came on the final play of a tight game against the Green Bay Packers in the ’99 season after George Seifert, then the head coach, called a timeout on fourth-and-goal from the Green Bay 5-yard-line with just 5 seconds left to play and the Panthers, their playoff hopes on the line, trailing 31-26.

“I came over to the sidelines, we all huddled up like you always see on TV, and Coach

Seifert said, ‘Let’s run the quarterback draw. They’ll never expect it,’“ Beuerlein said. “(Backup quarterback) Steve Bono started laughing so hard, he almost fell down. I said, ‘Well, you’re right about that, Coach. They’ll never expect it.’”

They didn’t, and Beuerlein scored on the play to secure an important 33-31 victory for the Panthers.

Though he fondly remembers the play down to the smallest details, Beuerlein harbors no illusions about his abilities as a runner in the NFL. He knows Newton is in a different league from not only himself but perhaps every other quarterback who has ever played in the NFL. It is, however, Newton’s improvement as a leader and passer that have impressed Beuerlein the most.

“I’ve always been a huge fan, and I have absolutely no doubt that when it’s said and done, if he can keep himself healthy, we’ll be talking about him for a very, very long time,” said Beuerlein, a fifth-round draft

pick of the Raiders in 1988. “He’s got all the tools physically, obviously. And I think his leadership every year has gotten better and better.”

“I have absolutely no doubt that he will continue to develop as a passer. He’s already made incredible strides and he’s shown that he can do it. I think the sky’s the limit for him.”

Beuerlein keeps busy these days working as a CBS television college and NFL football analyst, as well as working as an analyst in the insurance business. Although he played with five other NFL teams in his career that spanned 16 years, Beuerlein arranged with team owner Jerry Richardson to sign a one-day contract so he could officially retire as a Panthers in 2004.

DEFINING THE QUARTERBACK

Steve Beuerlein1996-2000

Heading into the 2016 season, nearly all of the franchise career passing records were held by Jake Delhomme, who took over as the team’s quarterback at halftime of the season opener in 2003 and started 90 games over the next seven seasons. Delhomme led the Panthers to the Super Bowl after the 2003 season and ended his tenure with the team as the all-time leader in passing yardage (19,258), attempts (2,669), completions (1,580) and touchdowns (120).

Delhomme knows Newton has been steadily chipping away at all of those numbers. In fact, Newton passed Delhomme earlier this season in career touchdown passes and yardage after just five games this year and 83 for his career.

“That’s all right. Records are made to be broken, right?” Delhomme said.

Besides, Delhomme still has the team record for interceptions with 89.

“Steve Smith’s number for interceptions … I like it. That’s funny,” said Delhomme, recalling his favorite target at wide receiver.

Of all the former Carolina quarterbacks, Delhomme appears to keep the closest tabs on the Panthers in general and Newton specifically. He’s a huge fan of both.

Asked for his impressions of Newton, Delhomme said, “One, he deserves every accolade that he’s gotten. He’s a physical freak of nature. I don’t know that there is any other way to put it. I try to tell people – until you see him in person, you can’t really truly appreciate how big of a man he is. So it’s kind of like a quarterback is not supposed to look like that. He resembles (former Panthers’ defensive end) Julius Peppers, besides maybe 25 pounds (Peppers weighs 287). And that’s hard to tackle.”

Like Beuerlein, Newton’s improvement as a passer over his career, now in its sixth year,

is what catches Delhomme’s eye the most.

“His physical traits are just off the charts unbelievable. But what I’ve been most impressed with is his passing. And I think a lot of that you saw last year,” said Delhomme of Newton, who came within one TD toss of Beuerlein’s single-season team record of 36 in 2015. “The game slowed down tremendously for him, and the throws that he made … it was impressive. He’s so tough and stands so tall in the pocket that it’s just tough for people to bring him down or rattle him. He’s like, ‘I know I’m going to take a hit, but my arm is strong enough that I’m going to get it in there anyway.’ He’s certainly using that to his advantage.”

Delhomme said he had a conversation with former Panthers’ teammate Jordan Gross during Newton’s rookie season that indicated to him Newton not only was a special talent, but was going to be a very special, highly successful NFL quarterback.

“Jordan, who I probably respected as much or more than anybody I played with, a true student of the game and things like that… he said, ‘You know, Jake, he’s a young kid who is so physically talented. But he’s so tough. He plays through injuries. He’s here early, he stays late. He watches film, he studies,’ And for me, that’s all I needed to hear early on,” Delhomme said. “When someone puts forth the time and effort and they bust their butt like that, I respect the heck out of them.”

“I’ve always felt that way. If someone was willing to put in the time and wanted to be great, that’s what you call a true pro. And that’s the highest compliment I can give anyone in the NFL.”

Delhomme now lives back in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, where he is a high-ranking executive at a regional bank, is heavily involved in the buying and selling and training of racehorses, and also serves as a youth coach for his two daughters who play a variety of sports. The man who averaged 1.7 yards per rush during his career as a Carolina quarterback has just one concern about Newton.

“I’m afraid he might break some of my rushing records,” said Delhomme, laughing. “That’s all I’m worried about.”

Jake Delhomme2003-2009