Cam Newton says he was a bad teammate during his Rookie of the Year season, but his fellow Panthers say he just needs to trust them more. Newton says he had difficulty adjusting to losing during Carolina's 6-10 season. "I was very immature," Newton told Yahoo! of his reaction after losses. "I'll be the first one to tell you, the pouting and the moping, I kind of overdid it. I know that. I was a bad teammate. I shut off to some people who gave unbelievable effort. ... That's where I have to mature."

Alex Smith raised eyebrows when he said that passing yards were overrated. He may have been right, but his decision to name quarterback Cam Newton in his argument upset the Panthers. Jon Beason defended his teammate. "Alex smith, don't hate on Cam Bc your stats would've gotten u cut if Peyton decided to come 2 San Fran.Truth b told..That's after a 13-3 yr," the linebacker wrote on his Twitter page.

Panthers quarterback Cam Newton took the league by storm as a rookie in 2011 and Ron Rivera is confident he'll avoid a sophomore slump. "I will say this about a sophomore slump -- if there's anybody that’s going (to) work through it, he's going to work through it," Rivera said. "When the season was over, one of the things he said was he wanted to find a way to make sure he didn't have one. I think the less we talk about it, the less we get caught up in it, the better. "It's like the Madden curse, he really wanted to be the cover. I think that's the thing. Instead of running from it, saying, 'Oh, I hope it doesn’t happen -- it's not going to happen. I'm not going to let it happen.' I think that's his approach to the sophomore slump."

Former Panthers wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett has signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. A second-round pick out of USC in 2007, Jarrett caught 35 passes for 348 yards in four years for Carolina. "I just wanted to get my head straight," he said. "I hung around with family and friends who are close to me. I'm still young, so I wanted to give it another go. I'm looking forward to the CFL because it's a great league as far as receivers go. They throw the ball 95 percent of the time and as a receiver I like catching the ball. Why wouldn't I go up there?" Jarrett attempted to return to the NFL but was unable to find a team interested in taking him on.

The Panthers have agreed to a four-year, $12.58 million guaranteed deal with first-round pick Luke Kuechly, according to a league source. Kuechly, the ninth overall pick out of Boston College, is the highest first-round pick to reach a deal. Carolina has an option for a fifth year in Kuechly's deal because of his place in the draft.

The Panthers have signed punter Nick Harris to compete with rookie Brad Nortman. Harris signed a one-year deal. Harris is an 11-year NFL veteran and played in 11 games with Jacksonville last season. He averaged 42.7 yards per punt.

Jacoby Jones, who was released by the Texans earlier this week, visited with the Panthers on Thursday, according to a source. Carolina's depth chart is widely open after No. 1 wide receiver Steve Smith.