According to CBS Sports, at least one NFL front office executive believes that Auburn quarterback Cam Newton’s individual workout on February 10 is just a publicity stunt.
I asked a handful of scouts about this workout. All were mystified as to what gains could be made with what one front officie executive termed a “publicity stunt.”
One high level scout put it this way:
“The Newtons would be best to realize they aren’t in college anymore. Regardless of how good he looks for [the media], there isn’t going to be a bidding war for him. We’re not recruiting him. They could wind up turning more people against them than for them with this [workout].”
As Rob Rang of CBS points out, NFL scouts are forbidden to attend a workout like this that was set up by the player (or agent, or whomever). This will be a media-only event, which raises questions as to why Newton’s camp would want to set up a workout like this in the first place.
If Newton struggles, then the media will hammer him. If he performs well, then the NFL may be turned off by what appears to be a workout to upstage the league’s process for evaluating prospects. It seems like an inevitable lose-lose situation for Newton.
