5 teams who should make a trade for Cam Newton

The Carolina Panthers have officially given Cam Newton permission to seek a trade, and these five teams should be in the mix to get him.

With a new head coach in place, it has seemed inevitable Cam Newton had played his last game with the Carolina Panthers. Trade speculation has been easy as he enters the last year of his contract, and on Tuesday morning Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported the Panthers have given Newton and his agents are being allowed to seek a trade.

Newton is due a reasonable $18.6 million in base salary this year, with a $21.1 million cap hit that isn’t all that prohibitive in the big picture. Of course the biggest question on him is health, as a shoulder issue hampered him significantly late in the 2018 season and a foot injury cost him all but two games last year. But this is a former league MVP who has having his best season early in 2018, and at 30 years old (31 in May) Newton surely has some good years left.

The Panthers made an announcement regarding Newton themselves, and general manager Marty Hurney pointed to working with him to find a landing spot.

“Every year difficult decisions are made and they are never easy. We have been working with Cam and his agent to find the best fit for him moving forward and he will always be a Carolina Panther in our hearts.”

Newton has reacted on social media, saying he did not ask for a trade and the idea was forced on him.

Regardless, Newton will have significant say in where he goes and there will be suitors now that Carolina has removed the flimsy veil of suggestion they’d keep him.

On that note, these five teams should be in the mix to acquire the 2015 NFL MVP.

5. Las Vegas Raiders

Yes the Raiders have struck a deal with Marcus Mariota, who Mike Mayock and Jon Gruden both professed love for in their previous work for NFL Network and ESPN prior to the 2015 draft. Derek Carr could still be on the way out via a trade though, with the follow-up idea of drafting a quarterback in April or making another move for a veteran.

The Raiders would clear $16.5 million in cap space by trading Carr, with a $5 million dead money hit. Cap space is not an issue in a broad sense, but moving Carr would obviously create the spot on the depth chart that’s needed to really go get Newton. As for Mariota, he was not going to be promised anything in terms of an immediate shot at the starting job and that would not change if the Raiders have Newton instead of Carr.

Assuming the Raiders are all the way out on Tom Brady, Newton is a nice fallback option now. The limelight of Vegas will surely appeal to him.