The Loop
Kelvin Benjamin, Cam Newton attempt to squash beef prior to preseason game, appear to fail miserably
Earlier this week, former Carolina Panthers wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin, now a member of the Buffalo Bills, made some headlines when his comments about his former quarterback Cam Newton came to light in an interview with The Athletic. Despite enjoying a breakout year in his rookie season that saw him catch 73 balls for 1,008 yards and nine TDs, Benjamin called his time in Carolina "a bad fit from the get-go," going on to say:
"If you would’ve put me with any other quarterback, let’s be real, you know what I’m saying? Any other accurate quarterback like [Aaron] Rodgers or Eli Manning or Big Ben — anybody! — quarterbacks with knowledge, that know how to place a ball and give you a better chance to catch the ball. It just felt like I wasn’t in that position."
These were some interesting statements from a guy who seemed to thrive with Newton his first year, but perhaps the frustration of an injury in 2015, a subsequent down year in 2016 (he still had 941 yards and 7 TDs) and a trade to Buffalo mid-way through the 2017 season left the former Florida State standout with a sour taste in his mouth over his tenure in Carolina. But Benjamin wasn't done there, responding to the push back over his comments with this soon after:
By sheer coincidence, the Buffalo Bills and the Carolina Panthers are meeting up in their opening preseason game on Thursday night. Newton, who obviously had seen the comments prior to Thursday, attempted to squash the beef with Benjamin on the field during pregame. Here's the full video of what looks to be a tense exchange, one that's already garnered close to 400,000 views in less than 40 mins:
You know what they say about assumptions, they make an .. blah blah blah. But it looks like its extremely safe to assume that this did NOT go over well, and no beef was squashed on this day. I'm no mouth-reader, but that appears to be a clear "F--- you" from Newton at the end. Maybe they'll smooth things over some other time.