Why Does Cam Newton Use That Weird Font On Social Media? There’s A Method To The QB’s Madness

Cam Newton is just one of the many football players who’ve gotten a firsthand lesson in just how quickly you can fall out of favor in the NFL.

The quarterback who won the Heisman Trophy and a national championship at Auburn was selected by the Panthers with the first overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, and he lived up to the expectations that accompany that distinction by winning Offensive Rookie of the Year honors in the wake of his inaugural campaign.

Newton was also voted the NFL’s Most Valuable Player when he led Carolina to Super Bowl 50 in 2015, but that marked the apex of a career that started a slow but steady decline thanks in no small part to the multiple injuries the QB fell victim to.

The Panthers decided to part ways with Newton in 2020, and while he returned to the team after a one-year stint with the Patriots, he once again found himself without a home after failing to attract interest from any NFL franchises following the conclusion of the 2021 season.

Earlier this year, the 33-year-old announced his #ComebackSZN had officially commenced when he revealed he’d be showing off his current set of skills for NFL scouts at Auburn’s Pro Day.

A lot has changed since Newton last appeared in an NFL game at the start of 2022, but that message proved one thing has remained unchanged: the weird font the QB uses in his social media posts.

After coming across his most recent message, I realized I didn’t actually know why Newton has committed to that particular bit—so I decided to do a little bit of digging to try to solve that mystery.

The reason Cam Newton uses that weird font on Twitter and Instagram

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From what I can tell, Cam Newton’s love of unconventional typefaces stretches back to at least the summer of 2018, as it was used for the caption accompanying the oldest photo on his Instagram account.

The QB also began to use the font with a bit more frequency on Twitter starting in 2020, and it appears you can differentiate what messages he personally sends out as opposed to those posted by his social media team based on whether or not they feature his signature typeface.

Further research led me to discover the font can be traced back even further than the aforementioned date; in 2016,  Newton worked in conjunction with the company behind an app called “I Post My Way” to roll out a custom keyboard that gave users the ability to mimic his unconventional style.

The original origins of the font in question are somewhat shrouded in mystery (I was unable to find the “official” name for the style in question or find any sources with a definitive record of the first time he deployed it).

However, Newton has offered some insight into his rationale—including the explanation he shared while talking with The Post Game in 2017.

Here’s what he had to say about it at the time:

“A person that knows nothing about me may go on my social media and say, ‘Man, why do you write like that? What is that decoded crap you put out there?’

The one thing it makes you do is focus on what I’m saying…

Everybody’s different and my mind works in a different way, but that’s the motive—that ratchet College Park Cam—it mixes that Frank Sinatra, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Beethoven that people may not know, but it’s a blend.”

The last part of that so-called “explanation” may leave you with more questions than answers, but it essentially boils down to Newton’s quest to figure out a unique way to stand out from the rest of a crowded pack.

When you consider it was enough to get you to read an article devoted to his choice of font, he’s probably doing something right.