Cam Newton has been out of the NFL since appearing in eight games for the Carolina Panthers in 2021. Newton is now claiming he is out of the NFL for something outside of his play on the field.

Newton believes his dreadlocks have some teams unwilling to sign him, via Josina Anderson’s Undefined podcast. While other franchises have quarterbacks with long hair, Newton thinks his dreadlocks ‘scare’ teams away. He isn’t planning on changing however as Newton is proud of who he is and his hair.

“There was hints towards it and I gained a lot of great counsel from people,” Newton said. “And the thing that is always mentioned is, ‘Yo Cam, you scarin’ people the way you look.”

“People have hinted towards to me say like, ‘Cam, we want you to go back to the 2015 clean-cut Cam,” Newton added. “But that was a different me. Right now, where I’m at, it’s about embracing who I am.”

Over those eight games with the Panthers, Newton led Carolina to a horrid 0-5 record. He threw for 684 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions. Even if his dreadlocks would somehow be deemed a problem by an NFL franchise, Newton’s last performance on the field certainly isn’t opening any eyes.

Still, Cam Newton is three-time Pro Bowler, a Rookie of the Year and an MVP. He threw for 32,382 yards and 194 touchdowns over his 11-year career. Newton revitalized what it means to be a mobile quarterback, running for 5,628 yards and 75 touchdowns.

Dreadlocks or not, Newton hasn’t been getting much NFL interest recently. Perhaps if he could return to his 2015 form, even with his current hairstyle, more franchises would be calling.