Newton underwent shoulder surgery in late March and began throwing three months later. While Newton missed a good portion of the preseason, he did return for Carolina's third game against the Jaguars, going 2-of-2 for a touchdown. Earlier this week, head coach Ron Rivera sounded optimistic about Newton and did not give any inclination that the 2015 MVP would miss a start. On Monday, he told the team's official site: "I think he's ready. I do. You wish he'd had a few more snaps and played a little bit earlier in the preseason so we'd have more to go on. But what we saw, we like."