Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Posted: 1:40 p.m.
By John Mullin
CSNChicago.com
And furthermore, on this Cam Newton thing
The backlash in some quarters against Nolan Nawrockis scathing appraisal of the Auburn quarterback is interesting, on a number of levels. By way of quick background, the Pro Football Weekly draft analyst bluntly questioned the quality of Newtons character as a leader as much as any football issue.
Attacking Nolan, as some Newton supporters have, misses the point.
To steal from Michael Douglas soliloquy in The American President (one of the great romantic comedies ever, periodView from the Moon provides this brief movie review free of charge), being President is entirely about character.
So to a large extent is being quarterback. So whether Nolans take was spot-on or not, and hes not the only one whos voice these concerns, Newtons character is critical, all the more so because of the investment his prospective team is making in him.
NFL
Accuracy and all the rest are essential, but character is everything. Consider the different courses followed by the teams selecting quarterbacks in the 1999 draft, which saw five quarterbacks selected in the first 12 picks, the last being Cade McNown by the Bears at No. 12.
Im going to throw out McNown, Tim Couch (No. 1 overall) and Akili Smith (No.3). None of them possessed the minimum skill package to even belong, and McNown added to the problems by not offsetting those shortcomings with leadership.
The two that bear most interestingly on the Newton appraisal are Donovan McNabb (No. 2) and Daunte Culpepper (No. 11). Similar in so many ways: Culpepper has a career passer rating of 87.8 to McNabbs 85.7; Culpepper was accurate, with a career completion percentage of 63.0 to McNabbs 59.
But McNabb was a consummate leader and reached a Super Bowl and five NFC Championship games with far, far less talent than Culpepper had when he was throwing to Cris Carter and Randy Moss and handing off to Robert Smith. McNabb navigated difficult waters in Philadelphia; Culpepper couldnt navigate clear of the Love Boat incident.
A team can be a perennial championship challenger with a quarterback possessing leadership character. A team without that never will. And thats why the Newton character questions matter, particularly for a potential top-10 quarterback selection.By the way, Mike Florio at ProFootballTalk.com gives an intriguing preview of an HBO look tonight at Auburns issues with paying players. It doesnt sound like it will do Newton character-backers any favors.
Tackling a problem
Long-time buddy Tom Kowalski covering the Detroit Lions over at mlive.com lays out the case for the Lions taking a tackle at No. 13 in the draft, and Tom also looks at why the bundle of solid tackle prospects may work against a team like Detroit that might want to trade down.
The question here is whether that situation helps or hurts the Bears, back at No. 29 and looking hard at offensive linemen. But in the Bears favor arguably is that they are as interested in adding a starter at guard or possibly even center. So while you can never be too rich, too thin or have too many tackles, the draft once it hits No. 13 and Detroit, where the run on offensive linemen may be expected to begin will get very interesting in a hurry.
John "Moon" Mullin is CSNChicago.com's Bears Insider, and appears regularly on Bears Postgame Live and Chicago Tribune Live. Follow Moon on Twitter for up-to-the-minute Bears information.