Cam Newton says ex-Panthers teammate wanted $1M to swap jersey numbers

Warning: Video contains coarse language

Cam Newton wore No. 1 throughout his 10 seasons with the Carolina Panthers, but it wasn't his first choice.

Newton, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2011 draft, revealed in his latest YouTube vlog that he originally wanted to wear No. 2 in the NFL - the same number he wore during his college career at Auburn. However, No. 2 already belonged to his then-teammate Jimmy Clausen, who set an extremely high asking price.

"Jimbo, he's like, 'Shit, if you want it, you gotta pay for it,'" Newton recalled. "I was like, 'Cool, how much?' He said, 'A million.'"

Newton said he turned down Clausen, pointing out to his fellow quarterback that some people don't even make $1 million in a lifetime. Clausen then came back to him with a slightly lower price tag of $750,000, which Newton also declined.

"Hung that phone up, I called the equipment manager, I said, 'I'm rocking with No. 1,'" Newton said. "I made an oath to myself, I said, 'That will be the last time Jimmy Clausen will ever be heard of in Carolina.'"

Cam Newton says Jimmy Clausen tried to charge him $1M for a Jersey number when he was in the NFL pic.twitter.com/j9tKjQLSsi

- 2Cool2Blog (@2Cool2Blog) November 6, 2023

Clausen started 10 games for the Panthers during his rookie season in 2010, posting a 1-9 record. He was demoted to third string after Newton's arrival and was eventually waived by the Panthers in 2013.

Copyright (C) 2023 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.