Former number one overall pick and star quarterback Cam Newton revealed the hilarious saga behind his jersey number on his YouTube channel Monday.
Newton, who famously wore number two during his Heisman winning campaign while quarterback of the Auburn Tigers, revealed he attempted to get the number from Panthers teammate Jimmy Clausen, who just happened to be the QB Newton was drafted to replace.
“I didn’t even want number one,” Newton revealed. “Man, Jimmy Clausen, we cool now,” Newton said about his former teammate, who wore number two for the Panthers.
“Jimbo, he was like ‘shit, if you want it you gotta pay for it.’ I was like cool, how much? He said a million. I said, ‘Boy, kiss my ass boy.’ I said, ‘a million dollars bro?’ I said, ‘bro people don’t make a million dollars in a lifetime, let alone imma give you a million dollars just for a fuckin’ number,'” Newton exclaimed. (RELATED: The NFL’s New Most Devastating Injury Just Claimed Another Victim)
“I thought he was playing. The motherfucker comes back and said, ‘Ok bro I talked to my people, we’ll do it for $750,000,'” Newton claimed. “I said, ‘Oh — oh you for real.'”
“I hung that phone up, true story, hung that phone up, I called the equipment manager, I said I’m rocking with number one,” he claimed. “I made an oath to myself, I said that will be the last time Jimmy Clausen will ever be heard of in Carolina,” the NFL’s 2015 NFL MVP revealed.
Newton made good on that oath, as Clausen never threw another pass in Carolina following Newton’s arrival.
Still, one can hardly blame Clausen, whose career earnings topped out at just under $5 million, according to Spotrac. Newton on the other hand, earned a $14 million signing bonus in his rookie season alone due to the fact that he was chosen first overall. The former Panther and Patriot has earned over $130 million throughout his career, per Spotrac.