Cam Newton Workout Phenomenal

[KDawg004]

To follow up on my earlier post I would not have given Clausen a first round grade. Well, maybe a late first round.

I did think that he was a great value where the Panthers got him however.

I also have it pretty close with Mallett and Gabbert and once I see more of Gabbert they could flip flop. Right now i would have them both mid to late first round. Newton of course I have top ten. I don't think Cam will make it out of the top 5 when it is all said and done. If we don't get him look out for Buffalo at number 3. They need to sell tickets and become relevant again, and some of the local press are eating Cam up (in a good way).

Right now Locker for me is second or third round although he likely will get drafted higher than that. Again it means squat but wanted to put it out there.

There's no way...even as much as you hate him now...can you say that you would have graded Mallett and Gabbert ahead of Clausen. Clausen looked dynamic and stopless albeit his WRs and TE bailing him outmost of the time. Which there lies the problems. Everyone was enamored with his footwork and poise they neglected the jump balls and throws his receivers adjusted to.

I admit I fell for it and thought we had the steal of the century. But, if you go back and watch the film that isn't the case. Mallett blows it when everything is on the line. He crumbles when it comes to crunch time and carrying the team on his back. That's not a franchise QB.

Gabbert on the other hand has all the tools. He lacks the most important part of the game though. Footwork, stand pat in the pocket while the play unfolds, read defenses, and go through your progressions. That all can be taught. A fellow by the name as Matt Ryan had some of the same problems. It worked out.

[twylyght]

guys look for every excuse to say no to cam.

If you are impressed by that skillset in a controlled environment, you'll LOVE Johnny McEntee!

[KDawg004]

He looks like he's going to spike it in celebration for beating Fairley out of the #1 pick.

[DirtyMagic97]

How in the world can you possibly judge a QB (one way or the other) in a situation where he has absolute control over everything?

[CatMan72]

How in the world can you possibly judge a QB (one way or the other) in a situation where he has absolute control over everything?

LOL, says the Florida guy... hmmm, I wonder where you stand on this?

[CatMan72]

Here are some excerpts from an ESPN Insider article about Cam's workout:

The 45-minute workout session included 33 throws, which, as Dilfer pointed out, had a high level of difficulty, based on timing, depth and circumstance. Newton completed all but seven of them, and three of those seven were dropped passes. "None of these were easy throws," Dilfer said. "He wasn't hitching. He wasn't waiting."

After seeing Newton throw in person, Dilfer said the former Auburn star has Stafford-level arm talent. "Please don't make the mistake of putting this guy in the The Golden Calf of Bristol category," he said. "They're a billion times different. [Newton] can flat spin it. He's compact, efficient, circular. He has the ability to throw where he's looking. He can anticipate. He'll be able to translate in a tight pocket in the NFL. [in today's workout] he had to be off-balance. He had to step and slide, and that brought out the best in him. I love Tim, but he is not a passer.

Dilfer, a former Pro Bowl quarterback who won a Super Bowl and spent 14 years in the NFL, is big on a term he's coined as "LTA," which stands for load to arrival, meaning the time it takes for a QB to go from the moment he sets for delivery to moment the ball arrives at the target. "DBs are trained to look at [a quarterback's] load mechanisms," he said. "For most QBs, that [load mechanism] is their hand separating. For some guys that's their back leg dropping. For Peyton Manning, it's when his left shoulder comes underneath his chin. It's from that moment until the ball arrives to where it's supposed to be that matters. [Pro Bowl cornerback Nnamdi] Asomugha sits there in a dark room by himself and he finds your tell. Your tell is your load mechanism.

"Tony Romo doesn't have a strong arm, but he gets it out there so quick, I guarantee his LTA is light-years better than JaMarcus Russell's was."

Thursday's workout stressed a lot of footwork drills, and it featured Newton taking five- and seven-step drops. Newton threw over linemen in situations in which random players would rush him, forcing him to step up or to the side or reverse pivot before firing through a window to a receiver as he was about to make his break. Nearly every ball was delivered with whistling velocity and to the receiver in stride.

However, after one throw in which the receiver had to reach high to bring in the pass, Newton clapped his hands in frustration. "Late," he muttered though a grin.

"A little late," Whitfield said back to him.

The pass was complete, but Newton was a shade off target. Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon, who has been acting as an advisor to Newton (Moon actually first met Newton when the QB was a raw, Atlanta-area high school player attending a camp the NFL great was working at in Orlando, Fla.), walked over in between reps and whispered something to the young QB.

Turns out, Newton had been pulling a bit to his left, affecting his weight transfer.

Dilfer later explained to me that was a graduate level quarterbacking tip that Moon shared with Newton: If a QB lowers his shoulder, his left foot, as part of his delivery, is going to stop him and force him to become more balanced at the top of his drop. But, if his left shoulder climbs, his weight will be more on his right foot and he will have to get all of his weight back to where it needs to be before he can throw. And if that happens, he is going to be late.

Newton received Moon's advice with a nod. He was on target with the rest of his passes in the session.

Perhaps as much as anything Newton did Thursday morning, his ability to immediately incorporate Moon's coaching tip wowed Dilfer, who said he's never seen a quarterback improve from his first game of the season to his 13th the way Newton did. "To be this refined and coachable as a puppy is remarkable," Dilfer said.

"He is so much better than I thought he'd be," Dilfer said, noting that most NFL QBs probably had taken more drops than Newton has to this point by the time they were seniors in high school. "This wasn't just a cupcake workout. Most guys throw the little short stuff in their workouts. These were throws down the field into a pretty stiff wind that's 10 or 15 miles per hour in his face. He knifed the ball through the wind.

"It was as impressive as I've ever seen watching a quarterback. I'm already drinking the Kool-Aid on the talent."

Link: http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/blog?name=feldman_bruce&id=6112002

[King Taharqa]

Im impressed by Dilfer's analysis. As a former QB, I like how he goes into detail about what he looks for in mechanics.

[monstercat]

Of course, some are going to say that Dilfer doesn't know what he's talking about since he wasn't the greatest QB in the world, but that same criticism also applies to some of the best scouts and QB coaches as well. John Gruden is just one example of a guy who wanted to be a QB but wasn't good enough, but he still knows a hell of a lot more than any of us about playing the position.

[Zod]

Dilfer was a terrible QB, but knows his stuff about the position. His praise should be a signal to the scouts out there that Newton has improved greatly in a very short amount of time. That eases concerns about his mechanics and taking snaps from something other than the shotgun.

Is he doing the combine? I doubt he does. He may do the Auburn pro day, but like Matt Ryan, will not do the combine.

[2shy]

Dilfer was a terrible QB, but knows his stuff about the position. His praise should be a signal to the scouts out there that Newton has improved greatly in a very short amount of time. That eases concerns about his mechanics and taking snaps from something other than the shotgun.

Is he doing the combine? I doubt he does. He may do the Auburn pro day, but like Matt Ryan, will not do the combine.

zod knows his stuff, where are the kittens?.....:Angel_anim:

[teeray]

There's no way...even as much as you hate him now...can you say that you would have graded Mallett and Gabbert ahead of Clausen. Clausen looked dynamic and stopless albeit his WRs and TE bailing him outmost of the time. Which there lies the problems. Everyone was enamored with his footwork and poise they neglected the jump balls and throws his receivers adjusted to.

I admit I fell for it and thought we had the steal of the century. But, if you go back and watch the film that isn't the case. Mallett blows it when everything is on the line. He crumbles when it comes to crunch time and carrying the team on his back. That's not a franchise QB.

Gabbert on the other hand has all the tools. He lacks the most important part of the game though. Footwork, stand pat in the pocket while the play unfolds, read defenses, and go through your progressions. That all can be taught. A fellow by the name as Matt Ryan had some of the same problems. It worked out.

If they were all in the same draft I am not sure if I would have it graded the same way. But they are not.

My problem with Clausen wasn't his receivers bailing him out it was mechanical and mental. I of course didn't have access to him personally like most teams did but when I watched ESPN's QB special he really underwhelmed me. He just didn't seem to have the fire and intensity that the other three QB's did. The other problem I had with him and continue to have with him is his throwing motion. He is short. Yet he releases the ball at a low level. I'm not saying he throws sidearm but if you look at the way Brees (who is shorter) throws the football it is almost like Jim Palmer. It is very high overhand type delivery. It allows him to get the ball over the defensive line without that many deflections. Clausen doesn't do that. His release is much lower and I thought from coming under center he might have problems throwing balls to the middle of the field in the NFL. If he were 6'5 it would be irrelevant, but he isn't. I thought he would be most effective throwing down the sidelines and in the flats or out routes and stuff of that nature.

I also believe he has a hitch in his throwing motion somewhere. It seemed to me that at times he held the ball too low and he would lose time on his release bringing the ball up and cocking it than releasing it. I saw a lot of that on film in college. You can get away with it if you have really high RPM's but he didn't. So that gave me a lot of concern.

Mallett right now can make throws that many NFL QB's can't even make. He is probably the best pure passer to come out in either of the last two drafts. His issue is he can make bad decisions, relies on his arm instead of his brain, is not very mobile, loses accuracy when he does have to move, and has a lot of rumors swirling around about his personal life and his coachability. At 6'7 if this guy didn't have so many questions about his relationship with coaches, attitude, and personal life he would be a top 10 pick.

Gabbert is a little of an enigma for me. I think he is getting a lot of credit for one half of football, that being the first half of his bowl game when he shredded Iowa. In the second half of that game Iowa was able to get a little pressure on him and he wasn't nearly as effective. The reason I have Gabbert lower than most people is because if the guy gets even a sniff of pressure he absolutely panics. I mean against Iowa if one defensive lineman broke containment he was terrible. When teams were even able to give him even a thought of being pressured he was ineffective or downright bad. Nebraska was very effective at getting some pressure on him and he was completely awful.

But when he is able to see the field, plant, and throw he has a very quick release, very high RPM's, and has above average accuracy. In a way (and this is what scares me) he reiminds me of David Carr. When Carr had time and wasn't pressured he was VERY accurate. Off the top of my head I know he lead the NFL in completion percentage at least once. But when he was under center and even felt like the defense was breathing on him he completely panicked. I worry that Gabbert could fall into a similar pattern. Gebbert has zero pocket presence from what I have seen. But is he overcomes that he has the talent to be a big time QB in the NFL.

Having said all those negatives of Clausen I still had him a late first round early second round QB. That isn't a terrible grade. And I like you thought we got a steal getting him where we got him. I too thought he would be more effective than he was. So I didn't say I thought Clausen was garbage. Just not a high first round talent.

[monstercat]

Dilfer was a terrible QB, but knows his stuff about the position. His praise should be a signal to the scouts out there that Newton has improved greatly in a very short amount of time. That eases concerns about his mechanics and taking snaps from something other than the shotgun.

Is he doing the combine? I doubt he does. He may do the Auburn pro day, but like Matt Ryan, will not do the combine.

He may not throw at the combine, but he will be there for some of the drills and, more importantly, the interviews and the wonderlic.

[pantherfan81]

For those who haven't seen the video of Cam idolizing Favre this past Monday on NFLNetwork, here's the link.

[King Taharqa]

"You was good in college. But now everybody's gonna be gunning for a Cam Newton. You know you got defensive ends, Julius Peppers in particular, you know he's got the measurables to be able to run with you. You know even though you may juke him, he's got that aspect. So, thats something that comes into the training part that you know I gotta work a little bit harder, because its gonna be turned up a little bit"

:cool: