"Hey, you TMZ??? Listen here .... "

That's how the QB started his tribute to Olsen outside Prime 112 in Miami ... comparing him to the GREATEST tight ends of all time, while fighting back the urge to cry!!!

There was booze. There was high praise. There was also Christian McCaffrey and Olivia Culpo!!!

"I respect Patrick Mahomes and I respect Travis Kelce," Cam said ... "I respect Dak Prescott and I respect Jason Witten. I respect Carson Wentz and [Zach Ertz]. I respect everything. But, me and this dude right here, man?"

"I don't want to start any controversy. I just want to be respectful to him and his career and what he's done. [Rob Gronkowski], I tip my hat off to him, but you cannot mention no great tight ends without mentioning Greg Olsen."

"The first tight end ever to have BACK to BACK to BACK 3,000 yards."

*Note -- Cam meant to say Olsen is the first to have 3 seasons with 1,000 receiving yards.

"Hey, I could cry right now man," Newton added.

As for Olsen, he got mushy too ... praising Cam for being a great teammate over the years.

Greg also bragged about how much red wine they drank inside!

"We had more glasses of Prisoner [red wine] than anybody in the history of Prime 112!" Olsen said, as the dudes left the restaurant.

That's when Olsen goes in for hugs ... and it's a pretty amazing scene.

As for Greg's future now that Carolina has officially parted ways with him ... he told us he ain't retiring, but isn't sure which team he'll end up on next.

"We'll see what's up."