Cam Newton is playing like shit. There’s no room for argument here. Whether it’s due to injury, lack of confidence, or offensive line struggles is inconsequential. Newton himself will tell you he has no excuses. However, in the wake of Newton’s poor play comes yet another round of perpetual, lazy talking points about the quarterback being “selfish”.

The latest comes from Paul Finebaum, who took time on Wednesday to slam Newton, saying:

“Forget the sympathy toward him. Cam Newton has never cared about anybody — other than Cam Newton.”

There is plenty of room to criticize Newton. It’s even OK not to like him — but the blatant character attacks only bubble to the surface when he’s playing poorly. The cover of bad on-field play allows people to get their boots in to kick Newton when he’s down, a unique phenomenon that seems applicable only to him.

I’m here to tell you about the Newton I know, which is a weird thing to say, because outside of a short “hello” at Panthers training camp in 2012, I’ve never met him. However, his actions have spoken volumes since arriving in Charlotte and this notion of “selfishness” is the biggest pile of horse shit in sports (and, of course, people keep eating it up).

The first thing Newton did when he arrived in Charlotte was acclimate himself to Panthers football. The second was give back to the community. He began a November tradition, Cam’s Thanksgiving Jam — a giant holiday party for hundreds of families from the Boys & Girls Club. Food, entertainment, holiday gifts — everything was taken care of in an effort to help those who needed it.

Still, he was criticized for being selfish.

Newton took it a step further. Every December, the Cam Newton Foundation loads up trucks for a whistle-stop tour of schools, hospitals, and homeless shelters around the Charlotte area. In 2017, they handed out over $100,000 in gifts, food, and blankets to the needy and distributed thank-you gifts to local public school teachers.

Apparently Newton only cared about himself then, too.

This year alone, his foundation has held charity 7v7 flag football tournaments, a celebrity kickball game to raise money for the children’s hospital, and even a spin class led by Newton.

Once again, he’ll be labeled as selfish, and once again, it’ll get eaten up.

I desperately wanted to interview Newton when I was writing about the Panthers for CatScratchReader.com. I was told by a source not to take it personally if never happened. “Cam doesn’t trust a lot of adults,” he said. “He’d rather spend time with kids. I can’t blame him.”

As gregarious as Newton is on the field, he’s intensely private off of it. He doesn’t parade his three children on TV or publicize his personal life. The flamboyant fashion, the swagger, his bigger-than-life demeanor — all an effective shield to keep the focus on him and not his family. In an era where athletes constantly hawk lifestyle products, alkaline water, and fitness regimes, Newton ... doesn’t. Sure, he has endorsements and ads, but there’s no grand effort to turn others into Cam Newton.

I never call in favors, but I did in 2015. All a friend’s daughter wanted for her fourth birthday was to meet Newton and I was able to get them field passes for Panthers training camp. I told him I couldn’t promise they’d get to meet Newton, but at least they would be close.

I got this message from my friend later that night: “Thank you. That was better than I ever could have imagined.” Not only did Newton say hello to my friend’s daughter but, upon learning it was her birthday, spent 25 minutes with her throwing a ball around and running up and down the sidelines. Before they left, he walked over and handed the 4-year-old a signed mini-football. It’s been on her bookshelf ever since.

For some reason, I feel like I have to defend Newton’s character. I think it’s because I know he’ll never do it himself. There’s this stoic, bulletproof nature to him that means he’ll never clap back or engage. Instead, Newton will keep doing his thing and put everything on his shoulders — and sometimes I worry that it’ll be too much. It’s bizarre to have that kind of connection to a stranger, but here we are.

Related Why I changed my mind about Cam Newton

It’s OK to dislike Newton. Perhaps you have a predilection to detest athletes with confidence, or hate conceptual fashion, or think whatever happened at Auburn was some grand insult to college sports. Newton has also said some really dumb things in the past. It’s fine if you don’t like him for these reasons. However, the idea Newton is selfish is a lazy narrative that needs to die — now.

Especially when it’s being pushed by someone who owes him a lot.