Before Colin Kaepernick became the sporting world’s black Übermensch there was Cam Newton. The smack-talking, dab-dancing Carolina Panthers quarterback was to have assumed the mantle at the Super Bowl where Beyoncé would perform her anti-cop anthems but the opposing team had something to say about it. The newly minted NFL MVP Newton got the snot pounded out of him by a swarming Denver Broncos defense led by sack demon Von Miller.

The humbled Newton coughed up the ball on a crucial fourth quarter play and then turtled out of fear of injury, ending the legend before it began. There was much weeping and gnashing of teeth with the blacktivist community over Cam’s comeuppance, notably race-baiting New York Daily News columnist Shaun King but they have jumped onto the scurvy Kaepernick like flies to a dog.

Former NFL superstar tight end and Hall of Famer has gone so far as to insinuate that Newton is a Tom for his failure to rally to the cause of spitting on the flag and bashing the police.

As reported by the Sporting News “Shannon Sharpe says ‘white America’ is telling Cam Newton, ‘Shut your mouth’”:

Reigning NFL MVP Cam Newton addressed the protests and riots in the Panthers’ hometown of Charlotte Wednesday. But his comments didn’t sit well with Shannon Sharpe of FS1’s “Undisputed.” The African-American former NFL star came close to calling Newton a sell-out more interested in protecting his “brand” and corporate sponsors than doing what’s right on Thursday’s show.

During a Wednesday presser, Newton said he’s “not happy” with the “state of oppression” toward the black community.  And that we all have to be held “accountable,” including rogue police.

But the 27-year old QB added he doesn’t judge people through a “black/white lens.” And that African-Americans have to “do right” by themselves. “We can’t be hypocrites.”

The content and tone of Newton’s comments Wednesday, as well in recent interviews this summer, were a far cry, Sharpe declared, from the pre-Super Bowl 50 comments when Newton admitted he “scares” some people because he’s an African-American quarterback.

The Panthers have hired Republican spin doctor and pollster Frank Luntz to coach Newton on how to talk about race, noted Sharpe.

As Newton begins to understand the “branding game,” he’s becoming more Michael Jordan, less Colin Kaepernick.

Newton’s trying to “play both sides of the fence,” said Sharpe.

People “see him as straddling,” said Sharpe. “So now they’re looking at him like, ‘I don’t believe nothing Cam say. Because all Cam is saying is what seems to be right at the moment.’ ”

It’s hard to determine which is funnier – Sharpe’s dismay with Superscam Supercam or that the Panthers have hired Frank Luntz to manage Newton’s public persona. Poor Luntz, he had lived high off the hog for years on his reputation as the establishment Republican’s kingmaker only to see his myth come unraveled thanks to the rise of Donald Trump. As a result, there are probably not too many six to seven figure political consulting jobs in this guy’s immediate future.

As for Newton, while Sharpe among others may believe that Cam is now an Uncle Tom it is looking like that Super Bowl beatdown and subsequent criticism may have done the Panthers QB a huge service with him being forced to swallow a good-sized dose of humility. Were the superstar Newton the leader of the anti-American, cop-hating movement that had to settle for the motley bargain bin special Kaepernick as it’s public face it would be a far more powerful disruptive force, but young Cam is wisely choosing to largely stay out of it to protect his endorsement appeal.