Here’s what an unnamed pro football scout had to say about Cam and Cecil Newton’s decision for Cam to put on a workout open to the media (h/t MrSEC.com):
“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].”
“Bidding war”? “Recruiting”? Gee, where could he have gotten an impression like that?
Get The Picture 
Poor Newtons are so used to calling the shots, they can’t see the forest for the green.
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Not to defend the Newtons, but the work-out is part of an objective process where teams can indeed bid on Cam’s services. If it is not a bidding war,then why do pro-team give up draft choices to move up in the draft? Sounds like some of the elements of a bid to me
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It’s not a bidding war because each slot can only be occupied by one team. Teams choose to trade up (or down) for a variety of reasons, but the largest one is generally that they’re at risk of losing a player they want because they are too low in the draft order, so they have to move up. Based on the way you make it sound, teams inevitably want to move up in the draft, which isn’t the case. Some teams want to move down to allow themselves to stockpile picks, to control costs (the higher the draft pick the more money they command), or if they know there’s a player they want who will be available later in the draft.
If this were a bidding war (as it ultimately is in college recruiting), each team would have an equal shot at a player and the player would choose where he wanted to go based on these things (who offered the highest salary, etc.). That’s not the case in the draft. Each team gets seven players from the draft (before trades and the like). If a team drafts you and you don’t like them, tough. You can voice to them that you don’t want to play there, or that you won’t sign with them…but these are things that will endanger your career, as it doesn’t really encourage other teams to try to sign you either. If the Panthers draft Nick Fairley first overall this year, that’s where he’s going unless he doesn’t sign with them (in which case he would be eligible for the draft again next year). It’s not like he can turn them down and go back out on the board and be an option for the next team at the next pick.
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Well, Cecil could get the Canadian Football League to bid against the NFL team (could be a better fit for him anyway.) Someone that can promote a bidding match between Miss State’s poor boosters against The aU’s power-cheaters could probably pull that off.
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Mike, you are exactly correct.
The unnamed scout’s comment is absolutely and totally inexplicable. All draft-eligible players – all – every year conduct such workouts, either by attending the combine, participating in “pro days” on their campuses, or by scheduling individual workouts.
If Cam’s workout is unimpressive, his draft position will be hurt (probably only marginally). That is his one and only risk in undertaking this garden-variety, universally acceptable step.
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You’re right about the fact that the workout is a normal thing. Like I said below, though, that’s not why the Newtons are catching flack. They’re catching flack because Cecil’s trying to remain involved and control the process like he did with Cam’s college recruitment, and that’s not how the pros work. If you’re about to be paying millions of dollars for a guy to take a job with your organization, you don’t want to have to deal with his vulture of a dad all the time.
NFL teams like things on their terms. If an agent is calling them to tell them about a workout, fine. They’re familiar with agents and understand their role…just as the agents understand what lines to cross and not to cross and how to play the game. Cecil doesn’t understand any of this. He has no insight, he doesn’t know the process, and he needs to stay the hell out of it for his son’s own good. That’s the point the scout is making.
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I think the point here is that it is open to the media. I may be wrong but I don’t think that is the norm. It’s pretty obvious that Cecil is just trying to drum up some media hype around Cam, and this scout is saying that no matter how much the media loves him it is not going to sway their grading of him. In fact, it will probably turn a few of them off on him.
Say what you want about Tebow’s private workout, but the kid was legitimately working his butt off and trying to prove to scouts that he could be an NFL QB. This, on the other hand, just comes off as a media ploy.
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So he performs in his media workout and bombs at the combine, guess which one will affect his draft position.
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How about if he blows out his knee in the media workout? Seriously, this is just a stupid idea. And, I wouldn’t have guessed it from the Newtons, because up until this point, they haven’t been stupid. Cecil knew exactly how to shape their bidding war where if it blew up, it would only burn him and not his meal ticket, Cam. But this? This is a miscalculation on the order of LeBron’s “Decision”. Just a dumb idea that does little except brighten the glare of the spotlight you’re already under. As the light gets brighter and brighter, very few people still look good. Except in the eyes of our friends at Auburn, of course, their lenses are fogged.
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Well, it isn’t stupid from the “Special Workout” kinda thing. From that perspective, it’s a pretty common concept. There are lots of players who put on private throwing sessions and things like that. Tebow did it last year when his throwing motion was suspect. He wasn’t ready to throw at the combine, so he participated in everything else, didn’t throw, waited until he had improved enough to throw for the scouts, and did that. He had handpicked receivers, he practiced the routes, the throws, everything. It was all controlled and it was just him.
Where the Newtons are going wrong is having Cecil orchestrating all this. This type of stuff is always done by agents who know the organizations, are familiar with the process, and have made names for themselves. The only name Cecil Newton has made for himself is that he’s a scheister…no professional team wants to deal with him. People put up with the overpossessive father with Todd Marinovich because the guy had been there before…Cecil Newton has done nothing.
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It’s pretty stupid to put this guy above the rest of the process, which will be the perception of what he’s doing. Besides Fairley, who do you think all of the scouts at Auburn’s Pro Day will be there to see? In effect, Newton’s already got his own workout at a place where he should be completely comfortable and able to perform well: Auburn.
This is Jimmy Clausen announcing his college decision at the College Football Hall of Fame. It’s grandstanding, it’s unnecessary, and it has a tendency to backfire.
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We’ll agree to disagree on this. You’re saying the behavior itself is grandstanding, I’m saying the behavior itself is normal for a prospective first round guy. First round players are above the process…they’re more important to teams so they can get away with having private sessions and announcing them to the media. Like I said, Tebow did this same stuff last year, and he’s just one example of many more.
It is grandstanding, but it’s grandstanding because it’s Cecil. If Cam were doing this and it were being announced by his agent (I’m assuming he has one), it wouldn’t be nearly as controversial. It’s stupid because his dad is in charge of it when his dad has no business being around any of it, and especially not talking to organizations and telling them what Cam’s doing. The organizations are interested in Cam and Cam’s agent, not Cam’s dad.
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It’s not a private workout announced to the media.
The media are invited.
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Alright, let’s argue semantics.
Private has multiple definitions. I was using definition number two – pertaining to or affecting a particular person or a small group of persons; individual; personal. Had I been using definition three – confined to or intended only for the persons immediately concerned; confidential – then yes, you would be right.
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I agree with most of what you’re saying but I think you are giving Cecil Newton too much credit. His bidding war did blow up and if the NCAA was actually willing to enforce its own rules, it would have burned Cam as well.
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I’ll bet right now Cam will only do limited things at the Combine. His agent will want hm to be showcased in a controlled environment like the past QB’s. He won’t be throwing at the Combine.
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His passing skills are already suspect. If he wants to be drafted as a QB he’ll have to participate in position specific drills.
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Sorry, Oakland, I know you drafted me, but dad says I have to go play for Cincinatti. The money’s just too good. What’s that you say? I can’t go play for the highest bidder? Well, that’s what they said in college, too, but I… oh wait. You’re serious? I really can’t?
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The funny part is that the rookie salary cap is going to be in before this class gets signed so the really big money is gone with the wind. Cam’s got one big thing going against him and that’s experience, he started one year in the FBS.
On a side note most experts feel the salary cap will increase the number of juniors that will come out early. Like the NBA cap you have to serve your time until your a free agent to get the pot of gold so the earlier you get into the league the earlier you get the pot.
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Newton couldn’t throw a T-bone on the grill unless his dad is there. As far as his passing qualities … about as good as him throwing the T-bone on the grill.
The Newtons have a quality my radio operator used to say sometimes. 2×2. Too loud and too often. They talk too much, want to be the center of attention too often. Frankly I’m damn tired of them.
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Even the most blinkered, deluded Auburn fan out there — even one who truly, truly believes that Cam Newton’s recruitment to the Plains was completely above board and did not involve so much as a penny changing hands — has to admit one thing: That Cecil Newton, Sr., is a low-class, grimy, trifling-ass excuse for a human being.
I have nothing more to say about this except for two words: “Todd” and “Marinovich.”
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EXACTLY. It is Todd Marinovich all over again. Cecil is trying to be Marv Marinovich. The only difference is that Marv got a pass because he played in the league and atleast knew about the process. Cecil knows nothing.
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Another key difference is that compared to Cam (insert smiley face), Todd, the dude, was much more into weed rather than property misadventures:
At Mater Dei, Todd had also begun smoking marijuana. By the time his junior year rolled around, he says, “I was a full-on loady.” Todd forgot where he was and then asked the guy from Esquire if he had any snacks on him. “Every day before school, Todd would meet a group at a friend’s house and do bong hits.”
http://www.esquire.com/features/the-game/todd-marinovich-0509-3#ixzz1Ce0bAo5I
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That’s what happens when your father puts pressure on you from the time your born to be a first round quarterback.
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you’re*. facepalm.
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T minus 15 until its almost 420…
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I agree with your assessment of Cecil. In my view, he’s a money-grubbing attention whore, and that’s what this whole workout seems to be about.
The NFL can see a player at one of three places: the combine, his hometown, or at his college’s pro-day (which at Auburn seems to have started about one year and $180K ago). To hold a workout anywhere else, so that only the media can watch, is about nothing but publicity and spin.
I don’t think anyone in the NFL gives a shit about what Cam does at the media workout, unless he hurts himself. They’re probably just doing a collective eye-roll at the whole notion. The tail (Cecil) will not be wagging the NFL dog.
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I suspect Cam will make Quincy Carter look like a genius. Cam is a system quarterback who can run half as well as Vincy Young. Like Tebow, he will be exposed as unqualified for the NFL. Draft him at your risk.
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Well, Tebow actually performed much better than was expected of him. Everyone said he wouldn’t be a first round pick…but he was. Everyone said he wouldn’t play QB in the NFL…but he is. Everyone said he wouldn’t see the field his rookie year…he’s the starter now. He’s already had a game where he threw for over 300 yards. Don’t crown him Elway yet, but he’s proven almost everyone wrong so far.
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Josh McDaniels isn’t picking in this years draft.
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Al Davis is. You don’t think the Raiders would take Newton in the first round? How about the Panthers, Bills, Jags, Titans, Vikings, Forty-Niners, Cardinals, Redskins or any other team without a current noteworthy starting QB? His dad aside, Newton has a good chance to go in the first round. He’s an elite talent, his passing skills are better than those of Tebow, Vince Young, Jamarcus Russell, and Alex Smith, (to name a few) who were all first round picks at the position. My money is on him being gone before the end of the first round.
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I don’t doubt the Raiders will draft anyone, they pick busts left and right. Panthers too.
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Agree, I always thought Tebow was a decent/pretty good passer but the distraction of his running between the tackles caused people to miss this. Yeah, he never took a snap from center to throw under Urbie, but he was an accurate passer. This isn’t to say he will go down as a Hall of Famer, but if you look at the quality of QBs in the NFL, Tebow can definitely compete with the middle of the pack. UGA fans may just have a blind spot on Timmy.
Now the throwing ability of young Cammy is a different issue to me. In one illicit year he showed me he was a better college QB than Tebow, but I don’t think he will succeed in the NFL. Not sure he has the toughness of Tebow, and he certainly doesn’t have the character. Not to mention he was shut down by Oregon’s defense.
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