“For him to say that we was losers was a slap in the face,” Munnerlyn told The Athletic's Joseph Person. “This was a team who was two years removed from playing in the NFC divisional round against the Arizona Cardinals. We lost a couple pieces. We had Checkdown Jimmy Clausen at quarterback and we had a bad year. … For him to say losers was crazy."

Newton is a growing media presence who said in November he was hurt when he wasn’t invited to join Smith, Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis and other former players in Germany when the Panthers played the New York Giants. Newton caused a stir in January by saying he would not give back his MVP award for a Super Bowl championship.