Rivera: Newton Had Ankle Injury Since College

Last week, Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton underwent surgery to fix an ankle problem that he'd had since towards the end of last season.

It turns out the injury has been with him much longer than that.

According to coach Ron Rivera, Newton has had this issue with his ankle since his days at Auburn, back in 2011.

"Every year rest, treatment was part of the rehab program," Rivera said. "This year they went through the program, and when he started working out it just wasn't feeling right, so he went and saw the doctor."

"All we know is that every year he's done this, he's rested it, he's treated it and he's gotten better. This time it didn't get better fast enough, so they went ahead and looked at it."

Newton "nicked" his ankle against the New Orleans Saints on Dec. 22. It was obvious for the rest of the season that his ankle aggravated him.

Newton will be out until late July recovering from the surgery. However, Rivera said that Newton could start throwing earlier than that.