Cam Newton: Why Starting Him from Day 1 Is the Wrong Move

Blame Sam Bradford.  And Matt Ryan too.  While we're at it, come on down Joe Flacco, Mark Sanchez, and Josh Freeman.  

The latest trend in the NFL of starting rookie quarterbacks is a phenomenon that doesn't appear to be going away any time soon.  

Because of the early successes of the aforementioned quarterbacks, it's easy to see why Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera named Cam Newton his starting quarterback this season.  

The top pick of April's NFL draft, Newton will make his NFL debut Sunday when the Panthers travel to face Arizona at University of Phoenix Stadium.  Ironically it's the same site the reigning Heisman Trophy winner capped one of the most historic seasons in college football by leading Auburn to a victory in the BCS title game.  

Newton clearly has as much, if not more, raw talent than his predecessors who were baptized by fire in their first taste of professional football.  

However, when you break down the circumstances surrounding this choice, this decision is a bad one for Newton and the Panthers organization.

Like Ryan, Flacco, Sanchez and Freeman, Newton will make his debut along with a first-time head coach in Rivera.  While it seems like the perfect blueprint to follow, Carolina doesn't have the surrounding parts in place to make this transition follow suit.  

Three of those quarterbacks had unique traits or a stroke of good fortune that led to the success of their teams.

Ryan started in pro-style offenses for three years in college.  Sanchez played in a similar offense at USC, and relied on Rex Ryan’s defense and bruising runner Thomas Jones to help the Jets take off.  Flacco was backed up by arguably the league’s best defense in Baltimore. 

Newton has no such luxuries in Carolina coming off a league-worst 2-14 record in 2010.  

When compared to 2010 top pick Bradford, who had a full offseason to prepare and the lucky break of competing in a weak NFC West, Newton had little over a month to get ready for battle in a division where the other three teams won at least 10 games a year ago.  Ouch!

The comparison to Freeman makes the most sense.  Physically, they are similar (although Freeman’s passing skills are further along than Newton at the same stage) and they both went to teams in need of an extreme makeover. 

However, Freeman didn't begin his rookie year as a starter.  He broke into the lineup in the second half of the season and put up modest numbers (10 TDs, 18 INTs). 

Freeman then took off in his second season, and now his future looks bright as one of top young signal-callers in the game.  If Carolina was looking for the right blueprint, using the one employed by their division rival is the best bet. 

Regardless of how dominant and breathtaking his lone season as a collegiate starter may have been, it can’t hide the fact that Newton’s skills as a passer are extremely raw and need development before he can become an effective passer in the NFL. 

In four preseason games, Newton completed 24 of 57 passes for 300 yards with one touchdown pass and no interceptions.  He also rushed for 86 yards and a touchdown. 

Completing a whopping 42 percent of your passes is not the best resume builder for a quarterback.  Considering that most teams run base schemes in preseason, that stat screams louder than a jet engine.  

Regardless of how bad Derek Anderson and Jimmy Clausen appear to be, Carolina would be better served letting Newton sit and learn from the sidelines for the first half of the season. 

By starting him when he’s clearly not ready, the Panthers are engaging in the NFL’s high stakes version of the game show “Press Your Luck.” 

Only time will tell if the words “pressure” and “Luck” will haunt the team in the near future.