Cam Newton Speaks With Peter King For NBC Sports' FOOTBALL MORNING IN AMERICA

Panthers quarterback and former NFL MVPCam Newton speaks with Peter King about his recovery from offseason shoulder surgery and his new mindset heading into the 2019 season as King continues his training camp tour for Football Morning in America, available now exclusively on NBCSports.com. In addition, King explains why he thinks Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott's holdout will be resolved before the start of the season.

King also travels to Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York Jets training camps, and has discussions with Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and Jets head coach Adam Gase.

The following are highlights from this week's edition of Football Morning in America:

CAM NEWTON IN CAROLINA

Peter King: "Very impressed with Cam Newton on Sunday. Very impressed...in his third real football practice since his January rotator-cuff cleanout arthroscopy. Impressed that his mechanics and form look more precise and practiced. And impressed that, at age 30 and with a warning shot (the surgery) about his mortality fresh in his mind, he's moving to the next phase of what still could be a dominant run for him."

Cam Newton on aging: "You can look back at any type of player. You can look back at any type of sport and as a player grows, your game has to change. I remember reading and seeing a lot of clips about Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Brett Favre, evenPeyton Manning to a degree. When you get old, you have to change certain things...I embrace this whole process because it's made me feel like a rookie again."

Newton: "Now, being older, you kind of look at things different. For me, it's not that I'm limited with certain things, or that I'm not capable of doing certain things, it's just other ways to do it...I'm just in a position now where none of that matters but one thing, and that's winning football games."

EZEKIEL ELLIOTT'S HOLDOUT

King: "I think the biggest reason why I don't think the Ezekiel Elliott holdout will last into the season is that Jerry Jones won't allow it to happen. He's too excited about the Cowboys normally."

King: "This year, with a young, play-making defense and a stacked offense, he's got to feel like this is his best chance to go deep into the playoffs for a long time. And he knows he's not going deep into the playoffs without Ezekiel Elliott. I can't see this holdout lasting."

CARSON WENTZ IN PHILADELPHIA

Doug Pederson on Wentz contract extension: "He's been given the keys to the kingdom. Now it's up to him to make sure the kingdom stays healthy."

Wentz on his past injuries: "I feel about as healthy as I've felt in a long time, both physically and mentally. Been able to take a step back due to the injury the last few years, unfortunately, but it allowed me to see the game from a different perspective."

King: "The NFL needs Wentz. He's a North Dakota kid loved by the fans and the public. He's smart, driven...Wentz is one of the stories of the year in the NFL, and the fate of the NFC East rests on him."

ANALYTICS IN BALTIMORE

King: "I've always been interested by Baltimore's ability to do things a different way...Now they've got an analytics-savvy GM, Eric DeCosta, taking over for the legendary Ozzie Newsome, and he's great friends with the progressive Astros team that was hired to rebuild the Orioles - GM Mike Elias and assistant GM Sig Mejdal."

King: "In baseball, analytics is the new wave. The NFL is still trying to figure it out...The Ravens hired a 22-year-old woman who will try to make sense of the new data - including GPS tracking of players in practices and games."

King on Lamar Jackson: "It's just one practice that I saw, but new quarterback Lamar Jackson stuck in and around the pocket Friday. He spent the offseason doing what smart quarterbacks do - adjusting to the passing portion of his team's playbook."

Jackson: "I'm not afraid of anything in this offense, what they ask me to do. Pressure busts pipes, but I don't feel pressure. I just feel opportunity."

LE'VEON BELL IN NEW YORK

King: "When (Le'Veon Bell) took one handoff from Sam Darnold in practice here, he looked precisely the same as in his Pittsburgh days, pausing and waiting till his crease developed, then rushing through the right guard/tackle hole."

Adam Gase on Bell: "I keep telling him, 'We'll keep stretching this thing, trying to find as many things that possibly you haven't done before.' Pass game, run game, all those types of things. He's so open to anything, which is great."

Gase: "When he stands behind the quarterback, he's talking - about whether to cut, where to cut, or how the linebackers flow or how the D line's working and how the pressure is coming. That's happening in real time. The way he thinks, you understand if he's talking like that, I can't imagine what's going on in his head when he's actually running the ball. I mean, at that point of the play, the game is slow for him."

Read the rest of the column here and catch THE WEEKLY Peter King Podcast here.

A new "Football Morning in America" posts every Monday morning exclusively on NBCSports.com through the NFL season. It was announced in May that King signed an exclusive agreement with NBC Sports Group that included writing a weekly Monday morning NFL column for NBCSports.com; making regular appearances on NBCSN's and NBC Sports Radio's PFT Live with Mike Florio; and continuing to contribute toFootball Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports.

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