Cameron Newton grew up in Atlanta idolizing and wanting to be like one Michael Vick at the height of Vick’s heyday with the Falcons.
Newton says he got the chance to meet Vick in 2010 at the Maxwell Awards, a meeting that was set up by Andy Reid.
Newton says he and Vick hit it off that night, and have a relationship ever since.
Cam sat down with the Charlotte Observer recently and was candid about Vick’s effect on him, and the skill set they share.
“The skill set that I have and the skill set that he has is kind of rare, especially in this league, but it’s your gift and your curse,” Newton said. “Sometimes it can get you out of a lot of trouble. Sometimes it can put you in trouble if you lean on it too much.”
“Everyone wanted to either wear No. 7, play quarterback, throw left-handed, be agile like him, buy his shoes,” Newton said.
“You can’t train and prepare for what you might end up doing in the game. It’s an evolvement of what they give you,” said Cecil Newton, a former safety at Savannah State in the ’80s. “It’s an extension of what you might do in the sandlot, when you understand what it takes to do to move the chains.
“We didn’t spend a whole lot of time doing fakes in the yard. I wanted him to predicate more so on understanding coverages, and I think he did learn a tremendous amount in high school and college.
“He has the ability to be elusive, but you can’t live and die with that one little premise. You still have to be able to throw effectively either out of the pocket on the run or from the pocket.”
“When you look at a dual-threat quarterback, there are a lot of things that I look at that make me different,” Newton said. “I’m not as fast as he is. I know that. I’m not as quick as him either. But there’s stuff that I feel I can get away with and he can’t and things that he can get away with that I can’t.
“We share a rare talent in this league, and that’s nothing to boast or brag about because at the same time, there are things Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady can do that I’m envious about.”