Cameron is a very good young player and yes he has proved a lot of his critics wrong (myself included), but he still says some things that make absolutely no sense at all.
Here is what Cameron had to say about his critics.
“I can’t sit up here and look at it like, oh man, my critics are racist,” Newton says. “I blame JaMarcus Russell and to some degree Vince Young. If you have the opportunity to make that kind of money doing something you love to do, why would you screw it up? I’m trying to be a trailblazer. If Baylor’s Robert Griffin decides to come out, I want people to say ‘He can be the next Cam Newton’ instead of ‘He’s gonna be the next JaMarcus Russell.'”
“I had people who can’t throw a football telling me my mechanics were wrong,” says Newton. “I had people taking shots at my character, classifying me as a thug, as a hoodlum. After Week 3 or 4, all these same people wanted an interview. I said, ‘You were giving me all this crap and had so much to say about how I was gonna play, and now you wanna talk? No. Just sit back and watch the show, man.'”
There was nothing racial about these facts.
Cameron came from a simplistic offense system.
Cameron had only one year as a starting QB at a major college program.
Cameron and his family had some shady dealings while he was Auburn.
Cameron had some shady dealings while he was at Florida.
JaMarcus Russell didn’t cause that, Vince Young didn’t cause that, Cameron Newton caused that. It is great that he proved he could be a legit starting quarterback in the NFL, but one great year doesn’t make you are Superstar it makes you a star in the making.
No matter how many yards or TDs Cameron passes or runs for in the NFL what you do in the playoffs and Super Bowl rings is what separates the very good quarterbacks from the great.
Last time I checked Panthers are 6-9.
I get the chip on his shoulder is huge and he is using that as motivation. That is great for him, but a dash of humility to go with that ego would be a good look as well for Cameron.