Cam Newton Told A Wild Story About How Jimmy Clausen Tried To Charge Him 1 Million Dollars To Wear #2 For The Panthers

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Cam Newton was a very bizarre quarterback. The guy won a National Championship, Heisman Trophy, and NFL MVP, and yet there’s still a part of me that’s like, “damn, I wonder what could’ve been.” In a recent interview, Newton claimed that one of the things that could’ve been for him was the possibility of wearing the #2 jersey, the same number he wore during his Heisman Trophy-winning season at Auburn. Jimmy Clausen, the Panthers QB at the time, wanted to charge Newton a pretty penny.

"He's like, 'Shit, if you want it you've got to pay for it.' I'm like, 'Cool, how much?' He said 'a million,'" Newton said. "I said, 'Boy, kiss my ass … A million dollars, bro? People don't make a million dollars in a lifetime, let alone I'm gonna give you a million dollars just for a f---in' number, bro. So I thought he was playin'.

"The motherf---er comes back and said, 'OK bro, I talked to my people, we'll do it for $750,000.' I said, 'Oh, oh you for real!' I hung that phone up … I called the equipment manager, I said 'I'm rockin' with No. 1.' I made an ode to myself, I said, 'That will be the last time that Jimmy Clausen will ever be heard of in Carolina.'"

When I think of stereotypical quarterbacks who might be nice guys in real life but look like douchebags, Jimmy Clausen is the first thing that comes to mind. He was one of the most insanely hyped quarterback prospects ever. He was pretty damn good at Notre Dame, and he was also the guy that made Mel Kiper promise to retire if he never made a Pro Bowl. Oops.

I don’t have any issue with the player wanting to keep his jersey number from the previous season. I understand that Cam Newton was the number one overall pick, but he hadn’t heard anything in the league yet. It could’ve been such a non-story, but the fact that Clausen wanted to charge this dude seven figures to wear a different number is insanity.

I love the whole “I talked to my people“ angle, too. Like, this guy had to find a board room, somewhere full of attorneys, trying to decipher how much value the #2 was worth. This was after the 2010 season, so it’s important to note that Clausen would go four years without starting another NFL game. I don’t remember this, but somehow, he found his way back with the Chicago Bears in 2014, adding to their long list of illustrious quarterbacks. Ironically, he wore number 8 in Chicago. I wonder if he tried to bribe someone into giving up number 2.