Cam Newton: A Super Bowl ring is the only thing missing from my life

Newton has already been named league MVP and he wants to add a Lombardi Trophy

When Cam Newton arrived in Charlotte as Carolina's No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, the Panthers were coming off a 2-14 campaign. In the six seasons since, he has led the team to a 12-4 record in 2013 and a 15-1 mark in 2015 that ended in a Super Bowl 50 loss to the Broncos. Newton was also named the league MVP that season -- he threw for 3,837 yards, 35 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and added another 10 touchdowns on 636 rushing yards.

Newton paid immediate dividends on the six-year, $118.5 million deal he signed in June 2015, though the Panthers struggled in 2016, winning just six games and falling from first to fourth in the NFC South. And even though he's just 28 years old and has played in 93 regular-season games, Newton said he feels like the only thing missing from his life is a Lombardi Trophy.

"I'm looking at my life right now and I'm saying, 'I'm missing one thing: I want a Super Bowl,'" Newton told high school players at his annual 7-on-7 passing tournament, via the Charlotte Observer. "Yeah, but it's really certain things that you have to really fine-tune and say, 'Am I deserving to be a Super Bowl-winning quarterback? How can I push myself to be a better me?'"

The Panthers' plan to make Newton a better version of himself: Surround him with play-makers. The team drafted for skill with its first two picks -- Christian McCaffrey was taken eighth overall and Curtis Samuel went 32 picks later. In Round 3, the Panthers upgraded the offensive line with tackle Taylor Moton. The unit ranked in the bottom half of the league in run and pass blocking last season, according to Football Outsiders' metrics.

And while Newton no doubt appreciates the support, he decided a long time ago that he was going to be a difference-maker on the field.

"The only way I put myself in this situation to be successful was I didn't have no plan B," Newton said. "I told myself, at the end of the day, I'm gonna be a football player and a football player only. And a lot of guys get it misconstrued because you're setting yourself up for failure; that's what some people think. But in myself I was thinking, 'I ain't got no other alternative. Either I'm gonna dominate this man in front of me or not.'"