is parting ways with Cam Newton as part of a round of talent layoffs that could be announced as soon as Tuesday. The move would end Newton’s run as one of the featured voices on First Take and leave Stephen A. Smith without one of his two main football-season analysts.
The timing matters because Newton had become a regular part of the show’s Monday rhythm, a spot elevated him into last season after Shannon Sharpe departed the role. Over the past two seasons, Newton was used as a debate partner for Smith on First Take, giving the show a familiar weekly matchup on its highest-rated day.
Multiple sources said Ryan Clark is also among the on-air employees being let go, which means Smith could be without both of his main analysts during football season. will look for a permanent replacement for Newton on the Monday editions of First Take, a job that has become central to how the show opens the week.
The exit also closes a messy chapter between Smith and Newton that spilled into public view last spring. After Newton invited Jason Whitlock onto his podcast, Smith said he “hates with a passion” Jason Whitlock and criticized Newton for not defending him when Whitlock cited what he described as fabrications in Smith’s 2023 memoir. Newton answered that he did not push back because, in his view, there was “nothing to correct.”
What happens next is straightforward, even if the replacement is not: has to fill a high-profile Monday seat while also managing the loss of another prominent on-air name. For Newton, the layoff would end a short but visible stretch on First Take; for Smith, it would leave the football season without the two analysts he had been paired with most often.
