When the question was asked by Jermaine Wiggins about why people thought Cam Newton and Bill Belichick might not get along, the first two sentences from the quarterback were telling.
"Honestly? We going honest?"
Newton then did get honest during his inaugural interview with the Greg Hill Show Monday morning.
"It's because I'm a black athlete," he said. "A quarterback who for a longtime has been unapologetic. It's because I have carried myself in a way the media hasn't given me my just due. But at the same time I do understand. I don't have no type of resentment toward that. I embrace who I am. I embrace in the moment. I live in the moment. One of the quotes that I live by is 'Carpe diem.' Throughout it all I've been able to see an opportunity. I went down a list of things I expect from Bill Belichick, just like Bill Belichick went down a list of things he wants from Cam Newton. I think the narrative coming here was kind of stereotypical and an unjust vibe just to see, 'We've heard this about Cam Newton. We've heard he's a primadonna. He's this and that.' But when you really put a microscope to who I really am there has been a lot of favoritism that has not been favorable for my benefit. But yet through it all I'm not going to make this about me. I want to make this about how to lead this team and just try and gain these guys' trust because I think that's the biggest thing that I have ... or that I had the biggest challenge of. Letting these guys understand, 'Listen man, I know there has been a lot that has been said.' I could feel the eyes and the attention on me as soon as I walked into the facility. But at the end of the day you guys have to know a lot of that is B.S."
Newton went on to explain why such a dynamic and perception was in play, citing how the quarterback position has evolved since his first year in the NFL back during the 2011 season.
"I'm not going to beat a dead horse, but I will say this: When I came into this NFL I believe there was Michael Vick and Donavan McNabb as the only two active black quarterbacks and there was an image you had to look like, you had to act a certain type of way to play the position," he said. "I've come off the backs of the Randall Cunninghams, the Donovan McNabbs, the Dante Culpeppers, the Vince Youngs. It's just a lineage of African-American quarterbacks that came before that I want to do right by. And now when you look at the league you see Russell Wilson, myself, a Lamar Jackson, Robert Griffin III. The list goes on. Deshaun Watson. Dak Prescott. I think the league is in a place where we have accepted that change of not saying it's right or wrong or indifferent, it's just different. Coming up where if you wasn't Peyton Manning or Tom Brady or Drew Brees you were going to be a failure. Those guys are all great obviously with their careers. But there are 1,000 ways to skin a cat. I do believe for me when I came into this league you were almost expected to act a certain a way, talk a certain way, prepare a certain type of way, practice a certain type of way, play a game a certain type of way. To see where the league is at now it makes me smile because there are many different ways you can win football games and you can do either by throwing or running."
