Whoever picks Cam Newton in the NFL Draft is going to be very happy with the choice.
No, don't go take that to the bank, necessarily. Nobody in any draft is ever a sure thing, not until he actually takes the field. But at this point, hours away from the end of the pointlessly, gratuitously harsh ordeal Newton's critics have put him through, this conclusion seems obvious: People have run out of reasons NOT to take him.
The irrational, borderline-hysterical scrutiny of every corner of his physical and psychological makeup, and of his public, personal and private lives, has unveiled ... nothing that makes him more or less of a risk than any other quarterback who has ever been considered for the first overall pick. He could be the next Peyton Manning, yes; he could also be the next Tim Couch, since he never heard a fraction of the doubt about his capabilities at the NFL level that Newton has heard, yet flopped as thoroughly and spectacularly as any No. 1 pick ever.
OK, maybe not as much as other recent quarterbacks picked No. 1. More on that in a minute.
There's really no other test for Newton to pass now; the next one will come whenever the NFL chooses to no longer pompously ignore a federal court order
-- excuse me, whenever the lockout is lifted and players begin to prepare for next season. Newton's NFL success will now largely be up to his own desire to be great, but no more than it will be up to how well his future employer works with him and builds a team around him.
Few of the ranting skeptics take that into consideration. No matter how ready Newton is, no matter how well he answered every question asked of him, he'll be ruined if some organization screws up its development of him.
Carolina, which holds the first pick, sure is a good candidate to screw it up.
But there still is the high risk of taking him. If Newton is a bust, for any reason, it sets the franchise back immeasurably. Heck, the Panthers are proof of that. This is not the choice they expected to have to make this year, after they spent a second-round pick on Jimmy Clausen a year ago.
Still, consider the high reward and congratulations to the NFL team that has considered that and decides Newton is worth it -- despite a nation of naysayers who want so badly to find reasons why he won't succeed. A nation that too comfortably and casually applies the most transparent of double-standards.
A nation that ponders the usual question of what previous quarterbacks, either top picks or NFL starters, Newton compares most readily to -- and, in perfect knee-jerk fashion, blurts out "Michael Vick'' and "JaMarcus Russell.''
Just for your own amusement, think about everything you know about the playing styles, backgrounds, levels of experience and physical attributes of Vick, Russell and Newton.
Then try to figure out if there is any other small -- superficial -- first-glance, skin-deep resemblance between the three. Take your time.
OK. Enough of that.
Actually, you probably would be more on the mark if you compared Newton to John Elway, who was the first pick when he entered the NFL. Or Ben Roethlisberger, picked in the middle of the first round. Or Brett Favre, passed over completely in the first round. Seriously, it's not that hard to see if you want to look.
Understandably, it's hard right now to see Newton as a finished product.
Quarterbacks who walk in and are ready to start in the NFL are once in a generation. Of course, there is this to consider about Newton's readiness for the job if it's handed to him under these circumstances:
This is a player who started piling up red flags early in his college career at Florida, which under almost any circumstances would make even mediocre programs at the major-college level blanch at the idea of handing such an important position over to him. Yet he took advantage of the best path available to him to keep developing, the junior-college level, where he would be able to play rather than sitting out a transfer year. At that level, he won a national championship.
Then, by all accounts, his father shopped him around for money, an act that threatened to completely nuke his playing prospects and put whatever school signed him on the NCAA's radar. Yet he landed at a big-time program in the best conference in America, stepped right in and led it to an undefeated season. Then he manages not only to maintain his eligibility to play once the NCAA gets word of the allegations against his father, the school also escapes real punishment, and Newton himself doesn't even get implicated.
Then he wins the national championship and, despite a widespread attempt to sabotage the voting, the Heisman Trophy. And after that, even though every attempt was made in several quarters to undermine his ability, his character, his honesty, his intelligence, his motivations for playing and even his dedication -- and please re-read the previous three paragraphs to see what lengths he went through in order to play -- he rose from little better than a second-day pick to a shot at the first pick in the entire draft.
Now. Add that all up. Then subtract the aforementioned skin-deep similarity to Michael Vick and JaMarcus Russell.
Hint: it appears that most NFL teams already have done exactly that. If not, Cam Newton would not be getting the benefit of the doubt from them. They're satisfied with him.
No, don't go take that to the bank, necessarily. Nobody in any draft is ever a sure thing, not until he actually takes the field. But at this point, hours away from the end of the pointlessly, gratuitously harsh ordeal Newton's critics have put him through, this conclusion seems obvious: People have run out of reasons NOT to take him.
The irrational, borderline-hysterical scrutiny of every corner of his physical and psychological makeup, and of his public, personal and private lives, has unveiled ... nothing that makes him more or less of a risk than any other quarterback who has ever been considered for the first overall pick. He could be the next Peyton Manning, yes; he could also be the next Tim Couch, since he never heard a fraction of the doubt about his capabilities at the NFL level that Newton has heard, yet flopped as thoroughly and spectacularly as any No. 1 pick ever.
OK, maybe not as much as other recent quarterbacks picked No. 1. More on that in a minute.
There's really no other test for Newton to pass now; the next one will come whenever the NFL chooses to no longer pompously ignore a federal court order
-- excuse me, whenever the lockout is lifted and players begin to prepare for next season. Newton's NFL success will now largely be up to his own desire to be great, but no more than it will be up to how well his future employer works with him and builds a team around him.
Few of the ranting skeptics take that into consideration. No matter how ready Newton is, no matter how well he answered every question asked of him, he'll be ruined if some organization screws up its development of him.
Carolina, which holds the first pick, sure is a good candidate to screw it up.
But there still is the high risk of taking him. If Newton is a bust, for any reason, it sets the franchise back immeasurably. Heck, the Panthers are proof of that. This is not the choice they expected to have to make this year, after they spent a second-round pick on Jimmy Clausen a year ago.
Still, consider the high reward and congratulations to the NFL team that has considered that and decides Newton is worth it -- despite a nation of naysayers who want so badly to find reasons why he won't succeed. A nation that too comfortably and casually applies the most transparent of double-standards.
A nation that ponders the usual question of what previous quarterbacks, either top picks or NFL starters, Newton compares most readily to -- and, in perfect knee-jerk fashion, blurts out "Michael Vick'' and "JaMarcus Russell.''
Just for your own amusement, think about everything you know about the playing styles, backgrounds, levels of experience and physical attributes of Vick, Russell and Newton.
Then try to figure out if there is any other small -- superficial -- first-glance, skin-deep resemblance between the three. Take your time.
OK. Enough of that.
Actually, you probably would be more on the mark if you compared Newton to John Elway, who was the first pick when he entered the NFL. Or Ben Roethlisberger, picked in the middle of the first round. Or Brett Favre, passed over completely in the first round. Seriously, it's not that hard to see if you want to look.
Understandably, it's hard right now to see Newton as a finished product.
Quarterbacks who walk in and are ready to start in the NFL are once in a generation. Of course, there is this to consider about Newton's readiness for the job if it's handed to him under these circumstances:
This is a player who started piling up red flags early in his college career at Florida, which under almost any circumstances would make even mediocre programs at the major-college level blanch at the idea of handing such an important position over to him. Yet he took advantage of the best path available to him to keep developing, the junior-college level, where he would be able to play rather than sitting out a transfer year. At that level, he won a national championship.
Then, by all accounts, his father shopped him around for money, an act that threatened to completely nuke his playing prospects and put whatever school signed him on the NCAA's radar. Yet he landed at a big-time program in the best conference in America, stepped right in and led it to an undefeated season. Then he manages not only to maintain his eligibility to play once the NCAA gets word of the allegations against his father, the school also escapes real punishment, and Newton himself doesn't even get implicated.
Now. Add that all up. Then subtract the aforementioned skin-deep similarity to Michael Vick and JaMarcus Russell.
Hint: it appears that most NFL teams already have done exactly that. If not, Cam Newton would not be getting the benefit of the doubt from them. They're satisfied with him.
