Know Nate Newton? He was speeding, missed a sharp turn near the Redskins’ team hotel, flipped the car and was thrown from it. The Fairfax County police woke him with another phone call. Mann stayed up until the small hours of the night passed, then fell asleep. “I guess he actually got a case of beer along the way and proceeded to drink that on the way back.”
The Redskins had one of the best offensive lines in the league. He had stopped along the highway, climbed out of the rental car Mann had gotten for him because Newton had no credit cards.
Newton was calling from near Pittsburgh at midnight. “I didn’t know how I was going to tell him.” “I remember being relieved that it wasn’t me and then being devastated for him because we were real close,” Mann said recently. Redskins personnel boss Charley Casserly called the room Mann and Newton shared and told Mann to tell Newton. Maybe he thought the Redskins couldn’t waive him if they couldn’t find him. He made the cut list instead and remained apart from the Redskins after their final preseason game in 1983. Newton was as round as the zero that described his chances of making the final roster. The Redskins were his first team, Joe Gibbs his first coach, defensive end Charles Mann his first roommate at training camp. The weight watchers have become Nate watchers. I’m recognized around the league as a ballplayer. I’m a guy who is heavy who will block your butt out. And every one I’ve read is good and has nothing to do with fat. “I read scouting reports on me from other teams. The fat man who started off as a novelty is a ballplayer. “All the years, all the jokes, all the damn hard work I put into this finally paid off. “We may get to the Big Deal,” Newton said in reference to the Super Bowl. He helps keep Troy Aikman’s uniform sanitized and also blows open space for NFL rushing leader Emmitt Smith. The result: He made the Pro Bowl for the first time at his current weight – 313.Īt the least, Newton is a key component to one of the most productive offensive lines in the NFL. Newton went to training camp at 301 pounds, less than Erik Williams and Kevin Gogan. But nothing worked until Newton complied this season merely to improve his performance, to limit the pain in his aching knees and, perhaps, to be taken as a serious, dedicated football player. Newton was fined for being overweight and lost his starting position in 1990. Tex Schramm and Tom Landry put $80,000 worth of incentive clauses in his contract if he kept his weight down. But the usually jocular Newton, the round face that fills all those big-screen televisions with subtle humor and zany personality, was in a somber mood. Newton, who is from Orlando and used to tilt the scales, has tipped them to his advantage in what shapes up as possibly his top season with the Cowboys. If you stopped and looked at a whole game of mine, you’d say there’s something to me. “If you knew football, you’d know Nate Newton is getting the job done. You’ll see something special,” he said recently. Forget ‘Sunday Night Showtime.’ Forget what you hear me say on TV. “Let me say this, brother, and be for real with you: Watch me play ball, man. His tone was solemn, shaky as he leaned forward. His hands were knotted into fists and contained in his pockets. Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Nate Newton, his gray sweatshirt damp and darkened with perspiration, cleared his throat, then his reputation.