Report: Cam Newton to have surgery for Lisfranc injury

Cam Newton may or may not have played his last snap for the Carolina Panthers. But wherever he plays in 2020, he’s decided to go into the year feeling as good as possible.

On Tuesday, NFL Network’s Tiffany Blackmon reported that Newton will have surgery on his injured left foot.

The Panthers initially announced that Newton had suffered a “mid-foot sprain” in a preseason game against the New England Patriots, and that he’d be ready to go for Week 1 of the regular season. Newton did play in the season opener against the Los Angeles Rams, and the next week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but it was clear that he wasn’t quite right.

Carolina shut down Newton, hopeful that some rest and rehab would help, but the team put him on injured reserve on Nov. 5.

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton reportedly will undergo surgery to repair a foot injury. (AP/Ben Margot)
Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton reportedly will undergo surgery to repair a foot injury. (AP/Ben Margot)

Newton could come back from IR, but the earliest he could return would be the first round of the playoffs, and with the Panthers at 5-7 and on a four-game losing streak, their postseason chances aren’t strong.

Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic, citing a source, tweeted that Newton will have a “relatively simple” procedure in the Lisfranc area; she also wrote that Newton was hoping to avoid the surgery.

The 2015 NFL MVP underwent a shoulder cleanup earlier in 2019 and was brought along slowly and deliberately in the offseason and preseason, only to suffer the foot injury while trying to escape pressure in the third exhibition game.

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