Cam Newton

Cam 1-on-1: Love me or hate me, here's why we'll win this year

Published Aug. 28, 2015 3:29 a.m. ET

foxsports

Great leader, still too immature.

Elite quarterback, a runner trying to be a thrower.

His team wins, but is he a winner?

Such is the life of Cam Newton.

Entering his fifth season in the NFL, the Carolina Panthers quarterback is one of the most popular — and most talked-about — players in the league, and for a variety of reasons.

Questions of his leadership still dog him, despite the fact he has led the Panthers to back-to-back NFC South titles (the first time in the history of the division a team has repeated as champion).

He has the two division titles, but last season his team finished 7-8-1, his detractors will tell you. (Heck, the Panthers were only 5-8-1 in the 14 games Newton played.)

He has had no shortage of hurdles in the past year-plus as well:

Ankle surgery, a car accident that cost him two games last December, the loss of star receiver Steve Smith (released by the Panthers) last offseason, the loss of star receiver Kelvin Benjamin (torn ACL) this offseason.

But in an exclusive sit-down with FOX Sports NFL Insider Jay Glazer, which you can see in full in the video above, Newton opens up about his career to date, what a true leader is in his eyes, and how his Panthers will once again succeed even without Benjamin, who had 73 catches for 1,008 yards and nine touchdowns in his breakout rookie season in 2014.

And in the video below, Newton and Carolina defensive leader Luke Kuechly, the 2013 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, tell you how the two of them use each other at practice to make the team better come Sunday.

The Panthers open the season Sept. 13 at Jacksonville at 1 p.m. ET live on FOX.

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Cam Newton

Luke Kuechly

Carolina Panthers

National Football League