One of the more intriguing story lines this NFL season is that of this year's number one overall draft pick and former Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton. Despite his poor performance during the Panthers' preseason, Carolina head coach Ron Rivera has decided to give Newton the nod over last year's second round draft pick and fellow quarterback -- Jimmy Clausen. While starting 10 games last season for the Panthers, Clausen saw little success and was unable to spark Carolina's offense through the air as the team eventually went on to finish the season with a league-worst record of 2-14.
Though the franchise is coming off a season to forget, their torrid 2010 campaign allowed them to pick first overall in the 2011 NFL Draft, a pick in which they used to snag Cam Newton who led Auburn to a National title. Hoping to make Newton their starting QB for the long-term, feeding him to the lions by having him begin his career with little to no professional experience isn't the ideal thing to do, but with Clausen and Derek Anderson behind him on the depth chart there really isn't that veteran presence around for him to learn from. With Pro Bowler's at both the wide receiver (Steve Smith) and tight-end positions (Greg Olson and Jeremy Shockey), Newton will have some weapons to target. However, the kid has a lot to improve on as his bumpy preseason performance indicated.
While his throwing accuracy has been mediocre at best, he has shown a strength when running and has grown comparisons to Mike Vick. Making Newton's job a little easier will be Carolina's dominant run game led by one of the more lethal tandems at the running back position in DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. Both of which will ease the workload of Newton on offense. Unfortunately for him though, he finds himself in what's become one of the more difficult divisions to win in the NFC South with the young rising talent of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who surprised everyone by finishing 10-6 last year. They've also gotta deal with the lethal Atlanta Falcons who many are predicting to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl this year. And finally there's the New Orleans Saints who are only two years removed from winning their first ever Super Bowl and are looking to avenge their early exit from the Playoffs last season.
Though I don't see Newton struggling as much as everyone else is predicting him to, I don't envision him making the Panthers any better than a three game improvement (5-11). While the talent level is certainly there, I expect Newton to be a long experiment until he fully develops into a successful NFL QB. Newton and the newly looked Panthers will get their first test on Sunday at 1:15 as they head to Arizona to take on the Cardinals.
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