After sitting out one week due to a concussion, Cam Newton could be back on the field for Carolina in Week 6.
Panthers coach Ron Rivera announced on Friday that Newton will be the team's starter 'barring any setback' before Sunday's game in New Orleans. Newton was listed as questionable on the Panthers' final injury report for the game that was released on Friday.
The big reason that Rivera didn't officially announce Newton as the starter is because he hasn't been cleared for game action. The Panthers quarterback has to get final clearance from an independent physician before he's allowed to take the field against the Saints.
Newton was cleared for full participation in practice on both Thursday and Friday this week, so the team is expecting him to get the same clearance for Sunday's game.
The return of Newton is good news for the 1-4 Panthers, who are in dire need of a win after losing 17-14 to the Buccaneers in Newton's absence. Not only will the Panthers be getting back the reigning NFL MVP, but they'll be getting back a quarterback who's terrorized the Saints in his last three games against them.
Dating back to December 2014, Newton has gone 3-0 against the Saints and thrown for a combined 872 yards and 10 touchdowns in those wins.
The Panthers are going to need that production, because their inexperienced secondary could get torched by Drew Brees.
The team only has three healthy corners on the roster -- plus Lou Young on the practice squad -- and those three guys aren't exactly Pro Bowlers.
"You deal with it. It's what we have. We've got to line up and play, so we'll show up and play. There's nothing we can do about that," Rivera said of his secondary situation, via the Black and Blue Review.
Besides Newton, Kelvin Benjamin (knee), Charles Johnson (quad) and Jonathan Stewart (hamstring) have also been listed as questionable.