Cam Newton says he isn't ending offseason fun

SPARTANBURG, S.C. --Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton doesn't believe he put himself at risk of injury with what he called an "adventurous" offseason that included flag football, knockerball and Australian rules football.

"Walking down the street you can get hit by a car," Newton said Friday as he addressed the media for the first time in training camp. "I don't live life with any type of regrets.

"When you start playing not to get hurt with anything, that is when those type of things happen. I'm obviously aware of the status that I hold, but I don't want my stardom to alienate me from the regular public."

General manager Dave Gettleman and coach Ron Rivera have said they have no problem with Newton's offseason activities.

Even if they did, Newton isn't about to change.

"You guys read too much into it," he said. "Cam playing flag football ... 'Oh my god, he can [injure] something.' Cam is doing knockerball ... 'Oh my god, look at him pulverize people.' Cam is driving fast ... 'Oh my god, he needs to slow down. He's driving again.'

"It's always something. But that is the life we live. I'm not never like thinking twice about the things I do."

Newton said he is healthier now than he has been in a long time, something he couldn't say a year ago after undergoing offseason surgery on his left ankle.

"For me to run and plant off it fully without thinking twice about it just makes me feel good," Newton said. "I had a person ask me if this is the best shape you've ever been in in your life. I don't want to say that, but this is probably the best I've felt in a long time -- and that is saying a lot."

Newton's 2014 season was hampered by fractured ribs suffered in the preseason and broken bones in his lower back after a December car wreck that forced him to miss a start.

He still wears the hospital bracelet, somewhat yellowish now, to remind him how lucky he was when his automobile rolled, only a few blocks from Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"I don't wear it for a fashion sense," Newton said. "I wear it as a reminder that so many people worry about the negatives that we just talked about -- 'Oh my god, he is going to do this or that? It's too hot outside, and he's going to get sunburned' -- but not just appreciating that the sun is out.

"I'm the type of person, with the things I went through in the last couple of years, I want to make the most [of life] and appreciate the blessing that I have on any day. Because like my father always told me, 'One day you can be on the top of the world, and the next day the world can be on top of you.'"

Newton has been on top of the world most of this offseason. He signed a five-year, $103.8 million extension in June that runs through 2020. He was part of Gatorade's Athlete Exchange program that put him on an Australian Football League team.

He also visited families of the victims in the Charleston, South Carolina, shooting.

"I had a whole bunch of life changes last year," Newton said. "For obvious reasons, health-wise. But having the health to do those things was kind of the good thing about it."