Tag: Cam Newton (Page 10 of 17)

Schefter predicts that the Panthers will take Newton

March 26, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

After leaning towards Blaine Gabbert last week, ESPN’s Adam Schefter now predicts that the Panthers will select Auburn quarterback Cam Newton with the No. 1 overall pick.

“Last week, I sensed Blaine Gabbert,” Schefter said in an ESPN Insider Q&A. “This week, I’m more on the Cam Newton bandwagon. The more I hear, the more it sounds like Newton is the player to beat for the No. 1 pick.”

Schefter goes on to say that the Panthers “need to create buzz to sell some tickets,” which of course is the best reason to draft a player. I mean, if you’re going to invest that much money in a prospect then he better be able to put butts in the seats. Football skills be damned.

Schefter isn’t a draft guru but I’m convinced he has a wiretap on every GM, head coach and player in the league so his words aren’t to be taken lightly. Still, he’s only making a prediction and not reporting anything, so Gabbert and even LSU’s Patrick Peterson are in the mix for the No. 1 overall pick.

That said, I had the Panthers taking Newton in my last mock and if I were to update it today, I would still have the former Auburn QB going No. 1. Carolina doesn’t seem enamored with any of the top defensive linemen and as good as Peterson is, a cornerback has never gone No. 1 or even No. 2. I don’t see Peterson making history this year and if the Panther are down to Newton or Gabbert, I think they’ll take the boom or bust player and pin their future on the former Tiger. (What? Newton and Gabbert are both former Tigers? Well that works out well for that last sentence now doesn’t it?)

External Sports, NFL, NFL Draft

2011 NFL Draft Blaine Gabbert Cam Newton cam newton draft rumors Carolina Panthers

Panthers leaning towards Cam Newton?

March 16, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

Unless it’s a ruse created to lure teams into trading up, all signs point to the Panthers selecting Auburn quarterback Cam Newton with the No. 1 overall pick according to the Charlotte Observer.

Carolina sent six representatives to Auburn’s Pro Day and will attend a private workout by Newton in Alabama on Wednesday. With Blaine Gabbert’s Pro Day coming up on Thursday, the Panthers should have a good idea as to whom they will be selecting with the top pick next month. There have been reports that the injury concerns surrounding the top defensive linemen in this year’s draft have scared the Panthers off, so maybe they’ve narrowed their wish list down to Newton or Gabbert.

Of course, there are rumblings that the Vikings and Bills are interested in Newton as well, so maybe a trade is in order. The Panthers don’t have a second round pick this year, so they may want to trade down in order to regain that selection. If they do trade down, Gabbert, LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson or even Georgia receiver A.J. Green become possibilities for the Panthers depending on how far they fall.

As of right now, this is still a cat and mouse game. The Panthers want to do their due diligence when it comes to scouting prospects, but they also don’t want to make their intentions obvious. If they have a couple of prospects rated close to each other, maybe they wouldn’t mind trading down, acquiring more picks and still landing a player at the top of their board.

External Sports, NFL, NFL Draft

2011 NFL Draft Cam Newton cam newton draft rumors Carolina Panthers NFL Draft rumors

2011 NFL Mock Draft 3.0: The Rise of Cam Newton

March 9, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

I’ll tell you what sports fans, I don’t know how anyone can compile a mock draft these days without wanting to slam his or her head on their desk about 25 times. I’ve made roughly 6,000 changes to this latest mock since the scouting combine wrapped up and I still hate it.

I hate it!

One thing I don’t hate is the addition John Paulsen has brought to Mock 3.0. He’s a statistical madman and recently thought of the idea to use players’ combine numbers to draw comparisons to prospects from previous years. He explains in more detail below.

More Draft Content: NFL Mock Draft 1.0 | NFL Mock Draft 2.0 | Ten Combine Winners | Ingram’s 40 Time an Issue? | Thoughts on QBs

John: I compared each prospect’s combine scores with players from the last six combines to determine the best athletic comparison. There are eight categories: height, weight, 40-yard dash, shuttle, 3-cone, vertical leap, broad jump and bench press. Not all prospects compete in all six tests, so certain comparisons are more confident than others.

Realize that we’re not suggesting that these players will turn into their comparisons – we’re simply saying that athletically, this is whom each prospect compares to based on their combine numbers.

All right, let’s rock out with our mocks out…what?

No. 1 Carolina Panthers: Cam Newton, QB, Auburn
I’m not going to run from the fact that this is now the sexy mock pick, but it does make sense. Ron Rivera attended Newton’s Pro Day recently and the Auburn QB looked sharp. Blaine Gabbert is still a possibility here and so is Patrick Peterson but at the end of the day, the Panthers might as well go big or go home. There isn’t a more polarizing player in this entire draft than Newton, who is the very definition of “boom or bust.”
Combine Comparisons: Vince Young; Tim Tebow.

College Football, External Sports, NFL, NFL Draft

2011 NFL Draft 2011 NFL Mock Draft Anthony Stalter Blaine Gabbert Cam Newton Nick Fairley

Panthers looking for an impact player at No. 1?

March 6, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

The Charlotte Observer is reporting that the Panthers are not sold on drafting a defensive lineman with the No. 1 pick and are thought to be seeking an impact player.

If the paper’s sources are right, that means Auburn’s Nick Fairley, Clemson’s Da’Quan Bowers and Alabama’s Marcell Dareus may be further down Carolina’s draft board than quarterbacks Blaine Gabbert and Cam Newton, and possibly even LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson (regarded as the best defensive player in the draft).

At least according to the Observer’s sources, the Panthers are concerned about the health of many of the draft’s top defensive lineman. Bowers had his knee scoped and therefore didn’t work out at the combine because he wasn’t in shape following rehab, while Fairley says he’s fine now but revealed that he suffered a small shoulder separation that occurred in a November game against Georgia.

Heading into the combine, Fairley’s name was being thrown around as a possibility at No. 1, but that talk has died down considerably. I haven’t put together my third mock draft yet but if I were today, I would have either Gabbert or Newton going No. 1. I had the Panthers taking Gabbert in my first mock, but then I bought into the hype surrounding Fairley and had him going No. 1 in my second mock. Now I’m back to believing that Carolina won’t take anything but a quarterback with the first overall pick. (Of course, just because the Charlotte Observer says that the Panthers may not take a defensive lineman, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true. How exhausting…)

External Sports, NFL, NFL Draft

2011 NFL Draft Blaine Gabbert Cam Newton Carolina Panthers da'quan bowers Nick Fairley Patrick Peterson

Oregon to be outed for major recruitment violations?

March 2, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

On his ESPN radio program Tuesday afternoon, Colin Cowherd said he received a text stating that a major football program will be outed very soon for “major recruiting violations.” College Football Talk has the details.

Here’s Cowherd’s minute-long monologue on what would be a seismic development if proven true:
I received an interesting text about 10 days ago, and this should be very frightening if you’re a fan of college football, that a major program in this country is going to be outed very soon for major recruiting violations. It is a top 10-12 program. I know what I think it is according to both my sources; I received another tip last night. I went to Vince Doria, who is sort of the journalistic editor at this company. He had heard the exact same thing. We are pursuing this story with vigor. A major publication is about to unseat a major college football power on recruiting violations. I will tell you from my source, it is not — it is not — Auburn. I will leave it at that. It is a major program and a major publication. When we can validate more… I have not been able to validate it nor has this company. We’re both pursuing it.

On Wednesday, Brooks Melchior, who has ties to ESPN and now runs the website SPORTSbyBROOKS.com, said this via Twitter:

Mult. ESPN sources have now verified to me Cowherd was referencing Oregon as school to be ‘outed very soon for major recruiting violations’

At this point, all we can do is wait to see if the NCAA makes an official announcement. Until they do, these reports are just speculation. But Cowherd and Melchior are both tapped into major media outlets, so this news is intriguing to say the least. With the amount of scandal surrounding Cam Newton and Auburn’s program, for Oregon to go down for major recruiting violations would be an absolute shocker. (Although would it be? Should any of us really be surprised that a major college football program – any major college football program – was breaking recruiting rules?)

Hopefully for Oregon this is just one gigantic rumor that has zero truth to it.

College Football, External Sports

Cam Newton

Tag: Cam Newton (Page 10 of 17)

Schefter predicts that the Panthers will take Newton

Panthers leaning towards Cam Newton?

2011 NFL Mock Draft 3.0: The Rise of Cam Newton

Panthers looking for an impact player at No. 1?

Oregon to be outed for major recruitment violations?

FOLLOW US!

CATEGORIES

Pages