Lowell Cohn: Cam Newton a popular guy in Panthers locker room

SAN JOSE

It is exhilarating when real life intrudes on Super Bowl Week, something serious for a change. The New York Daily News reported Colin Kaepernick wants to leave the 49ers and play for the Jets.

This is definitely a real-life development - if it actually develops - because it involves 1) a non-Super Bowl player and 2) a local player for as long as he remains one.

And it makes you think about Kaepernick, something we haven’t done in a few weeks. Now, he’s back again, apparently grumpy and dissatisfied. So, let’s talk about Kaepernick by talking first about Cam Newton, you know, one of the two Super Bowl quarterbacks.

This is not to prove Newton is a better quarterback than Kaepernick. Needs no proving. They both got drafted in 2011 - Newton, of course, was No. 1. Newton’s star is ascending. He could be the MVP of the NFL this season. He could win the Super Bowl.

Although Kaepernick had early success, the league figured him out, he turned as sour as a lemon and got benched on merit. Or demerit. His two most famous passes were disasters. When he missed Michael Crabtree in the end zone to lose the Super Bowl. When Richard Sherman tipped his pass to Malcolm Smith for the interception that closed out the NFC championship game.

But forget for a moment how and why Newton is better than Kaepernick. Think of them as human beings. What we know of them as human beings. I am more familiar with Kaepernick the human being, only know Newton from the outside. And from the outside he’s a hot dog with an extra dose of Gulden’s spicy hot mustard, with horse radish on the side.

He’s flamboyant, does that “dab” dance, has a golden smile and seems to invite criticism from the media like Muhammad Ali. It’s just that in Super Bowl interview sessions I asked Newton’s teammates about him. Allowing for the usual overstatement, take a look at these testimonials.

I asked Ted Ginn Jr. why he wasn’t a big deal with the 49ers but came into his own as a receiver with the Panthers.

“Cam Newton.”

Say what?

“Cam Newton. That’s really it, Cam Newton. It isn’t really about the ‘dab.’ It’s just about who he is. I believe that if it wasn’t for him, there is no Ted Ginn.”

Someone asked Ginn where all the “togetherness” on the Panthers comes from. Naturally, he said Newton. “The type of magnitude that he has, we try to get that magnitude off him.”

“Magnitude,” what a word. It means great size. It implies generous. Maybe heroic. And it’s transferable. Newton has enough magnitude to magnify all the Panthers.

Has anyone ever applied the word magnitude to Kaepernick?

Here is fullback Mike Tolbert on Newton: “Basically it’s as if we weren’t teammates. We’re friends. That makes it better for us to play together because I don’t want anything to happen to him that I wouldn’t want to happen to my brother.”

Does it bother Tolbert when the media come down hard on Newton?

“It does. It does. I know Jerrell. I know that guy, the guy that came from College Park, Ga., that is a light in every room. He’s a generous guy. We love him. The most important thing, he cares about us other than just football. It’s not, ‘What can you do for me?’ It’s, ‘What can I do for you?’ He’s a great guy and I, for the life of me, can’t understand why people vilify him. I guess somebody has to be the bad guy.”

Whopper quote that one, especially that image of the “light.” Newton as the light-bringer. What light did Kaepernick ever bring?

And who the heck is Jerrell?

Jerrell is Newton’s middle name. Cameron Jerrell Newton. Which leads to a fascinating dichotomy. For you and me, Newton is Cam, the superstar. Jerrell is the regular guy. The guy the Panthers players know and interact with and say they love. Jerrell is the man in the locker room when the media have gone away.

Kaepernick’s middle name is Rand. Do his teammates call him Rand? Is there a Rand to balance Colin with those earphones and that silly cap and those clipped hostile answers?

Final testimonial. This one from tight end Ed Dickson.

Me: Is Cam the most popular guy on the team?

Dickson: I would say.

“You like him?”

“Love the guy”

“Why?”

“I love him because to know his heart to be around him it’s genuine. He’s not a fake person.”

“Is he one of the guys?”

“He’s definitely one of the guys. I’ve known him before I came to the Panthers. That’s why I can say deeply I care about the guy and love the guy.”

“Has he changed?”

“In a good way. People always change and grow up. Coming from college you do have a kind of boy aspect to grow up into a man.”

OK, you get the picture. The Panthers swear by Newton, at least publicly. Which is all we can know. They use the word “love.” They gush.

The 49ers never did that about Kaepernick. There was no Rand or love or magnitude or gushing. Last season, reports came out he’s an island. Doesn’t do much with his teammates. Few players contradicted those reports. Few leapt to his defense. After he got benched, players rallied around Blaine Gabbert, made a point of praising his personality.

Being loved by your teammates doesn’t make you a great quarterback. Of course not. It’s just that Newton, the loved one, is a better quarterback than Kaepernick, in eclipse. And Newton’s teammates defend him like no one ever defended Kaepernick. The 49ers should buy Kaepernick a one-way ticket to Newark Airport. Meadowlands just up the road.

For more on the world of sports, go to the Cohn Zohn at?cohn.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.