Cam Newton remains unsigned as NFL teams begin ramping up preparations for the upcoming season, though the 2015 league MVP still feels confident he can be an impact player despite two straight difficult campaigns.

Speaking as a guest on ESPN’s ‘The Pivot Podcast,’ the quarterback attributed his struggles in 2020 and 2021 to putting himself in tough situations during his short stint with the New England Patriots as well as last year’s return to his original team, the Carolina Panthers.

"Before I sit up here and allow the narrative to be made that Cam ain't got it no more, Cam is taking full responsibility and saying Cam put himself in a [messed] up situation, which then had a ricochet effect to how people think of me," Newton said.

"There’s not 32 [quarterbacks] better than me. If you think I couldn't be on somebody's team right now, you're a damn fool."

Newton's career has experienced a downturn since shoulder and foot injuries led to the Panthers releasing their then-franchise face following a 2019 season in which he was limited to just two games.

He signed with the Patriots shortly before training camp opened in 2020 and started 15 games in New England’s first year of the post-Tom Brady era, with mostly mixed results.

The three-time Pro Bowler finished 2020 with eight touchdown passes and 10 interceptions, the first time in Newton’s career he had more picks than TD throws when starting three or more games, and the Patriots went 7-8 in his starts to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2008.

Newton said he was never fully able to grasp a new offense on account of joining New England just two months before that season’s start.

"The New England experience was a [messed up] situation," he remarked. "I was still learning the offense seven to eight weeks into the season.

"It was just brain overload. It was times I was going to the line and I'm still thinking, 'Did I know it?’ Yes. To the degree that I needed to know it to show the world that I'm still Cam Newton? No. But I put myself in that situation."

The Patriots released Newton just prior to the start of last season after turning the offense over to rookie quarterback Mac Jones, and he spent nine weeks as a free agent before rejoining the Panthers in November.

Following a dazzling return in which he rushed for two touchdowns off the bench in Carolina’s Week 10 victory over Arizona, Newton was named the starter the following week but was never able to recapture his early-career form. The 33-year-old lost all five of his starts while completing just 54.1 per cent of his passes and recording a 61.4 passer rating.

"I signed on Thursday. I played on Sunday," Newton said of his Carolina comeback. "At what point did you think you was going to be successful? The next week, I started. That's still under 10 days of you being on the team. And you’re still trying to learn the offense."

Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer said last month that the team has kept in contact with Newton and has not ruled out bringing him back. It’s unclear if the veteran quarterback would agree to another reunion, as he stated h'’s looking for a scenario where he would have sufficient time to learn an offense while surrounded by a strong support system.

“If you’re asking to run this show without your supporting cast upholding their end of the bargain, then you’re always going to be left alone." Newton said.

Cam Newton is again biding his time before deciding on his NFL future, although another return to the Carolina Panthers remains a possibility.

Newton was the 2015 NFL MVP during an initial nine-year Panthers career before he was released in March 2020.

The quarterback landed at the New England Patriots in July of that year on a one-year deal, replacing the great Tom Brady.

Although that contract was renewed for 2021, the emergence of rookie QB Mac Jones meant Newton was cut before the season started.

Newton had thrown just eight touchdown passes to 10 interceptions in New England but added 12 rushing scores – the most by a QB since his own 2011 record of 14 – and did enough to earn another job with the Panthers.

With Sam Darnold injured after an indifferent start in Carolina, Newton re-joined the team in November.

The 32-year-old scored a rushing TD in each of his first five games back, one short of Johnny Lujack's QB streak of six in 1950. Three games with a passing TD and a rushing TD boosted Newton's own record tally to 45 such games.

However, Newton later lost his place to Darnold and finished the year with a career-low passer rating of 64.4.

Still, almost three months on from the Panthers' final game of the season, the team are considering their future with Darnold while Newton is again without a team.

"I have teams that are interested in signing me," Newton told ESPN. "I am waiting on the best fit as it pertains to winning a championship and getting a fair chance to play."

Coach Matt Rhule said on Tuesday: "I love Cam Newton. He's an amazing leader. He's an amazing football player.

"Everything we do has to be right for the organisation, right for him."

The Panthers have the sixth overall pick in 2022, but it is a draft light on quarterback talent. Meanwhile, various trades and moves in free agency have left both the team and Newton short of alternative options.

Scott Fitterer says Sam Darnold is "in the lead" to be the Carolina Panthers starting quarterback for the 2022 NFL season but the "door's still open" for Cam Newton to land the role.

Panthers general manager Fitterer on Friday revealed Darnold is the frontrunner to start under center when the new campaign gets under way.

Carolina missed out on Deshaun Watson, who was traded to the Cleveland Browns last week.

That leaves Darnold and P.J. Walker as the only quarterbacks on the roster, with the 24-year-old set to get the nod.

"Sam's on the roster as I sit here right now," Fitterer said. "He's in the lead for that job. We want him to take it and run with it.

"But we're gonna add a lot of competition to that room. The whole emphasis is to stabilise the quarterback position to play winning football."

That competition could come in the form of Newton, who rejoined the Panthers last November after Darnold sustained a shoulder injury.

A former number one overall pick, Newton's return did not go to plan as Carolina lost all five games he started.

The 32-year-old threw for 684 yards and had five interceptions, but Fitterer says he is being considered by the Panthers.

"The thing with Cam, it's got to be a fit for us and it’s got to be a fit for him just as well," Fitterer said.

"He’s looking for a certain opportunity. The door's still open for us. We're very open to Cam. We'll see where it goes. He knows where we stand."