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Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen came to the defense of quarterback Cam Newton following a verbal attack from former teammate Kelvin Benjamin. Benjamin told The Athletic this past weekend that he wished he was able to play with a more accurate quarterback to begin his career. The Buffalo Bills wideout also said he thought being drafted by the Panthers was a "bad fit from the get-go."
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"He was the MVP, wasn't he?" Olsen said of Newton, who won the award in 2015. "Just in general, you play with an MVP quarterback. There's like four or five of them in the league, right?
"Obviously, you know how I feel and how we feel about Cam, which I think right now is all that matters. ... People have opinions. That's just the world of today."
Benjamin was rather direct while taking shots at Newton's accuracy and knowledge of the game.
"I mean, I felt like I would've been even more successful if ... I don't know, man ... If I would've ... Looking back on it, I should've just been drafted by somebody else. I should've never went to Carolina. Truly, I just think Carolina was bad for me. It was a bad fit from the get-go," the 27-year-old Benjamin said.
"If you would've put me with any other quarterback, let's be real, you know what I'm saying? Any other accurate quarterback like [Aaron] Rodgers or Eli Manning or Big Ben [Roethlisberger] -- anybody -- quarterbacks with knowledge, that know how to place a ball and give you a better chance to catch the ball. It just felt like I wasn't in that position."
Newton owns a career completion percentage of 58.5 and has never finished with a percentage higher than 60 during the wideout's four-year stay in Carolina.
The quarterback, however, elected to take the high road when informed of Benjamin's comments.
"I ain't gonna go back and forth with him," Newton responded in an Instagram post. "I'm just gonna work, you feel me? That's all it is. You know what it is. Just work, baby."
Olsen was quick to stand up for Newton, with whom he had three straight 1,000-yard seasons prior to last year's injury-riddled campaign.
"I've told him a lot he's the best thing that's ever happened to my career," Olsen said. "Coming here, this has been the best eight years of my career, and obviously he's a big part of that.
"As far as other people's experiences, it's hard to speak on how they feel. But I know my eight years with him and countless other guys who've played with him have benefited from playing with him."
Benjamin told reporters Sunday that he was "just angry at the time" when he made his remarks.
