Just a year after winning NFL MVP honors and leading the Panthers to the Super Bowl, Cam Newton had a forgettable 2016 season, which ended with the team winning just six games and finishing last in the NFC South. Turns out, there’s a very good reason for Newton’s precipitous drop in productivity: Last week we learned that the quarterback will undergo surgery to repair a partially torn rotator cuff.

On Wednesday from the league meetings in Arizona, Panthers coach Ron Rivera expounded on what Newton endured last season.

“He’s gonna have to rebuild his confidence. I mean, he was shook. Let’s be honest. I’m not going to lie about that,” Rivera said, via NFL.com. “The young man went through a tough time and we went through a tough time. Why? Because of the injuries that we suffered on the offensive line. That was probably was the biggest thing. It just kind of shows you the more of the importance of being able to protect your quarterback.”

From start to finish, Newton’s 2016 season was a rocky one. It began with him taking a beating from the Broncos defense on national television while officials did little to protect him, and he suffered the shoulder injury in Week 14, according to the team. There is good news, however: The expectation is that he’ll be ready for training camp in late summer.

“We developed a plan for Cam to take a period of rest, a period of rehabilitation and treatment, and then start a gradual throwing program the first part of March,” head athletic trainer Ryan Vermillion said last week, via the team’s website. “Cam started his program, and the early parts of his rehab had been going well. However, as we worked to advance him into the next stage -- the strengthening stage, the throwing stage -- he started to have an increase in his pain level and started having pain while throwing.

“As a result, (head team physician) Dr. Pat Connor felt the most prudent procedure would be to arthroscopically repair the shoulder.”

Meanwhile, the Panthers could look to the draft to make life easier for Newton. Four of the six most recent CBSSports.com mock drafts have Carolina taking former LSU running back Leonard Fournette with the No. 8 pick. And if you’re of the opinion that drafting a running back with a top-10 pick is generally a bad idea, Rivera disagrees.