Free-agent quarterback Cam Newton believes his dreadlocks have impacted his ability to be employed in the NFL.

When CBS Sports' Josina Anderson asked on Tuesday if Newton feels his ability to get a job in the league has ever been impacted by his "way of dressing" and his hairstyle, the former Carolina Panthers star answered affirmatively.

"It's been hindered, and I'm not changin'," Newton said (h/t Yahoo Sports).

Newton started growing out his dreads in the fall of 2018. In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel in January 2022, he detailed spiritual reasons behind the hairstyle.

He also told Anderson: "But, yeah, people have hinted towards to say like, 'Cam, we want you to go back to the 2015 clean-cut Cam. But that was a different me. Right now, where I'm at, it's about embracing who I am."

Anderson asked Newton if any team had specifically cited the dreadlocks in a decision not to sign him, especially when he was looking for a new squad after being released from the New England Patriots in 2021.

Newton said:

"There was hints toward it. And I gained a lot of great counsel from a lot of people, and the thing that is always mentioned is, 'Yo, Cam, you scarin' people the way you look.' And I would say, yo, like I'm not gonna name names, but there's other quarterbacks that's in the league that don't look like me, but they got long hair. They don't scare them, do they? So, we can go tit for tat, tat for tit with it. But I would just turn and nod to that and say, 'That's not the reason why I'm not in the NFL.'"

Newton reportedly turned down at least one offer last year and ended up sitting out for the 2022 season but has said he would be willing to play as backup to rejoin the NFL in 2023.

He played 10 seasons with the Panthers over two stints between 2011 and 2021, highlighted by an MVP campaign that helped Carolina reach Super Bowl 50 in 2015, but he struggled in his last season as a starter for New England in 2020.