Former Panthers RB DeAngelo Williams Is Mad at Team for Treatment of Cam Newton

In the weeks since Cam Newton exited the starting lineup due to an aggravated foot injury, second-year backup Kyle Allen has led the Carolina Panthers to a 5-1 record, including Sunday’s victory over the Tennessee Titans. Based on this success, there has been the opinion that he should be the main man moving forward, but former Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams does not agree. First, he wants to see the team put Allen in the same situations that they did with Newton.

During an appearance on First Take, Williams explained why he is mad at the Panthers coaching staff, specifically, offensive coordinator Norv Turner and head coach Ron Rivera. As he said, the former RB believes that the Panthers are treating Allen very differently than they treated Newton.

“What you are asking Kyle Allen to do is not what you asked Cam Newton to do,” Williams said on Monday. “You asked Cam Newton to win it with his legs, you asked Cam Newton to pass out water bottles, you asked Cam Newton to read defenses, you asked Cam to beat you in so many other ways. All Kyle Allen is doing is stepping back, throwing the ball, and handing the damn ball off to Christian McCaffrey.”

As he continued to say, Williams wants to see the Panthers put Newton in the same exact offense and ask him to fill the same “game manager” role that Allen is. He doesn’t believe that the Panthers should be asking Newton to run so much despite it being part of his skill set. The reason? Williams believes that this actually played a role in the 2015 league MVP getting injured.

To this point, Newton has long been known as a dual-threat QB due to his ability to run over smaller defenders and gain tough yards. After all, he is 6-foot-5-inches and 245 pounds. Using his size and athleticism, Newton has rushed for 4,806 yards and 58 touchdowns.

Allen, on the other hand, is only 210 pounds and is not built to be someone that runs over opposing players. He has 10 rushing attempts this season for a grand total of two yards. That’s a stark difference to Newton’s production and shows a different focus on the game plan, which is one reason why Williams is angry at the Panthers coaching staff.

If nothing else, Williams wants the Panthers and everyone else to stop comparing Allen and Newton until they are doing the same things for the offense. He wants Newton to return at full health and then run the West Coast Offense in the same manner that Allen has during his 5-1 record. At that point, Williams believes that comparisons can be made between the two quarterbacks.

For now, however, the former Panthers running back says that comparing Newton and Allen is like comparing apples and oranges instead of apples and apples.

(Photo Credit: Steve Dykes/Getty)