MU's Gabbert Goes Pro/Year of the QB-- NFL Draft Thread 11

A lot of Newton's passing success had to do with DB's and LB's freezing on play action to defend Newton running. Won't happen in the NFL.

 

You guys have convinced me. Newton was lucky all the way. I'm sure Auburn would've gone 13-0 without him, too. Better to stick with Jimmy Clausen, or, if you're the Cardinals, nobody.
Newton is a risk, just like every QB draft pick is a risk. But he WAS the best offensive college player last year. That counts for something. If news reports are to be believed, the Panthers think so anyway.
Terry Bradshaw was immature and dumb. Jim Plunkett was mentally weak. Troy Aikman was a risky pick compared to can't miss Tony Mandarich. Philly fans booed when they drafted Donovan McNabb instead of Ricky Williams.
Newton might not be a success in the NFL. But there's good reasons to believe he will be, as well.

 

I agree with this. Carolina can get by for a year or so with Jimmy Clausen at QB. Yes, his stats were awful last year, but he also didn't have any receivers who were worth a damn. Green will at least stretch the field some and make defenses respect the deep ball. And if the Panthers suck as bad as everyone suspects they will (and they will no matter who is the QB), Andrew Luck awaits in next year's draft.

 

Newton was lucky to get into a system that best highlighted his skills. It was the perfect storm. If Terrel Pryor was in Auburn system he would have had similar numbers.

No NFL team will run the Auburn system and put their franchise QB at risk.

Newton has great raw skills but it will take a lot of work on his part to adapt to NFL.

My reservations on Newton as 1st pick is if he is willing to put in the work.

Watching the Newton interviews the past few weeks turned me 100 %.

 

What are those reasons?

 

1. Dominant player on national championship team. Maybe he doesn't give good interviews, but ON THE FIELD, he showed considerable leadership ability. Down three touchdowns AT Alabama and you come back to win? The quarterback had to be good.
2. Physical ability in terms of passing arm is either superior or SEC defenses suck.
3. Off the charts running ability. That's kind of like basestealing if you're Albert Pujols in terms of importance, but it counts.
It appears Newton will be the Panthers' pick. If not, he'll be a first rounder. We can come back in 3-5 years and see what happened. Sure he could bust out. But I strongly suspect much of the criticism Newton gets is from the college football fantasists who hate that he sold his services on the open market like college football was a business instead of a high moral calling to entertain people who like to drink on Saturday afternoons.

 

Looked more to me like SEC defenses suck. I'd rather the Cards stick with John Skelton. I'll be very unhappy if they take either Newton or Gabbert.

 

I don't care about college football. And even if I did, reasons 1 and 3 mean absolutely nothing in transitioning to the NFL, and reason 2 is a guess.

 

I understand reaching for QBs is all the rage and has been for more than a decade as shitty teams seem to care more about PR and not missing the next big thing than properly evaluating what's best in the long term, but given what teams know versus what they don't about Newton, with the amount of money the top pick gets these days, Newton seems like arguably one of the biggest risks ever if Carolina decides he's their guy.

 

College football performance means nothing when transitioning to the NFL? OK, that's just bullshit. It's one thing to say Newton didn't excel LONG enough at college to make him a good pick, I'm not sure that's right, but there's logic to it. Your point is nonsensical. You CAN'T evaluate a football player without examining football games in he has played.
Running ability is an ability like any other. OF COURSE it helps a quarterback to have it. It's not enough to succeed on its own, but it helps.
Your last post is fair comment. Newton IS a risk. But the Panthers are the worst team in the NFL. So they will spend a risky amount of money on their pick no matter who it is. So they should be thinking possible reward, not be risk-averse. That doesn't mean I think they should willy nilly pick Newton, BTW. But it seems as if they're going to. SOMEBODY in that franchise must see reward potential in Newton.

 

I wasn't talking about performance in general, rather the idea that being the best player on the best team in college equates to being a success in the NFL. That's almost like saying winning the Heisman Trophy portends success on the next level.