Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera was more than halfway through his one-hour session with reporters at the NFL owners meetings on Tuesday before getting a question about quarterback Cam Newton’s surgically repaired shoulder.
“Trick question?" Rivera replied jokingly from a ballroom at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix.
That it took so long for the 2015 NFL MVP to get a mention was somewhat of a shocker because Newton is the team’s headline player, regardless of his health.
Not wanting to put an unfair deadline on Newton’s rehab in terms of when he would become an active participant in offseason workouts -- i.