Despite Nico Iamaleava’s $4M demand, Cam Newton believes his exit has nothing to do with money

Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava made a huge move on Friday when he reportedly skipped practice. It was then reported by On3's Pete Nakos on Saturday that Iamaleava plans to enter the transfer portal following a contract dispute with the Volunteers. Per reports, Iamaleava had demanded that his current salary of a reported $2.5 million be upped to $4 million, which the Vols apparently refused.

This decision to allegedly ask for more has been criticized heavily in the media and viewed as a play to make as much money as possible. However, when former NFL quarterback Cam Newton spoke on "4th & 1 with Cam Newton" on Tuesday, he had a different perspective. He thinks this is a simple case of Nico Iamaleava receiving bad advice.

"This is my take about this whole thing, this is not about money here," Newton said. "Even though everybody's making it about, this is all about money. This is a perfect case of good advice saves, bad advice kills. Good advice will save your life, bad advice will kill you. Whoever gave that kid advice to sit out, killed that kid. Whoever told his father, whoever gave him the inkling of, we need more money.

"Who advised the Iamaleava family to make this decision? Because this is what you must understand, Nico. Regardless of how you bounce back from this, you will be the example. There are certain things in people's careers, it just sticks. When you think about Cam (Newton), Super Bowl. When you think about Lamar (Jackson), playoffs."

Cam Newton then said this incident will be a stain on Nico Iamaleava's career forever, which he thinks is sad because of how young he is.

"Now this will have a stain on his career, and it's sad because, to Dan Orlovsky's point, he is still a kid," Newton said. "That's being guided by other people, whether it's his father, his agent, his family members. It's a story of good advice, bad advice. Whoever told this kid to sit out and chase for more money is a fool."

Nico Iamaleava is not generating interest from Power 4 schools

The move appears to be doing more harm than good for Nico Iamaleava. According to a report from ESPN, a general manager at a Power Four school told the network on Tuesday:

"I think he has zero market. It will be an interesting test of how smart and disciplined colleges are in looking at him."

If schools are not interested in Iamaleava, it is likely because his reputation took a hit because of this move. If he plays, he is expected to be one of the top QBs in the nation. However, as things stand, it is unclear if he will play for a top school.