Not to toot my own horn, but I thought it was pretty obvious that Newton had the ability to be an NFL QB.  A lot of people questioned whether he could do it because he played in a spread offense and ran a lot.  But the problem with QBs in that style of offense is that it can hide a lack of natural ability.  That wasnt an issue with Cam.  He made enough NFL type throws where you could see he clearly had the ability.  His mechanics were fine.  Everything about him was fine, it was just that you didnt see it much based on the offense Auburn played.  And for him, could he be smart enough to read NFL defenses and know where he should go with the ball.  But thats a question mark for all QBs making the transition.

 

I think Manziel has a lot more question marks than Cam.  He clearly doesnt have the sheer physical size and doesnt have the same arm strength.  You see him from time to time make an NFL throw but you will also see a lot of bad throws across the field that clearly dont have enough arm strength on it.   Manziel's real strength is his ability to run and throwing on the run.  And while he has made some nice throws from the pocket, thats often a result of a defense scheming to not allow him to run.  But as we saw with Mizzou and LSU, if you just contain him with your down lineman, he cant scramble and he is forced to throw against secondaries playing the pass.  Not playing a guy to run.  And he was awful.  NFL teams will do the exact same.  Theyll play him to contain and force him to beat exotic coverages.  Just like we saw NFL defenses do to Vince Young.  I do think Manziel is a better thrower of a football than Young though.  I just dont know that he is good enough to sit in the pocket and make NFL throws one after the other.  He needs to run around and scramble.  I think the Doug Flutie comparison is a great one.  I think he can be a guy that in the right situation on a bit of a hot streak, can win some games and bring some excitement.  But wont be a consistent winner and wont be a legit top 15 QB. 

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