John Elway on Cam Newton: 'He's incredibly talented'

[Mooche]

As far as Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway is concerned, Auburn quarterback Cam Newton is a rare talent.

He's not alone in that opinion.

Alabama coach Nick Saban told the Denver Broncos executive that Auburn wouldn't have won four games last season without Newton. Of course, they won the national championship with the Heisman Trophy winner spearheading the Tigers' cause.

"I think that he’s incredibly talented," Elways said in remarks distributed by the team. "If you look at the way that he played, I mean, you watch him on tape and I’m trying to think if there’s anybody in recent memory that’s as athletic at that position as Cam is. You watch what he did last year, winning a national title. One of the interesting things is we went down and saw Nick Saban when we were down at Alabama’s Pro Day, and we’re talking about obviously all his players and then we asked him about Cam, and he said that team would not have won four games if it wasn’t for Cam Newton. That tells you how much of a special player he is. We had him in here yesterday. He’s a pleasant guy and a guy that obviously is another guy that had one great year, but is a guy that to me has shown a heck of a lot of resilience from what he did when he left Florida and went to Blinn Community College and then to Auburn.

"If you look at the way he plays—and not only do we watch point-of-attack tapes on him, but also if you watch game tape of Cam—he’s a guy that has rare competitive instincts in the second half. A lot of those football games they were behind in that second half and he was, the great competitor that he was, he got them back in and won all of those football games. He’s got a lot of unique traits. I think that he’s, obviously being in the shotgun like he has, he hasn’t spent a lot of time under the center, which I think is an adjustment, and it takes a bit of time. But obviously he’s a guy that mechanically and athletically is not going to have an issue when he goes under center. It’s just going to take a little bit of time.”

The Broncos have spent a lot of time looking at quarterbacks, but are expected to either draft Alabama defensive lineman Marcell Dareus or LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson.

"Obviously you have to look at if there is a franchise guy there and we had to do our studying on these guys, get to know then personally and I’m not saying we don’t have the franchise guy on our team but we had to go through the process to see what was out there," Elway said.."We’re still going through the process of getting a chance to meet them but I’ll say this, a franchise guy hasn’t stood out yet but that’s not to say that there isn’t one there. We’re still in the process.”

The Broncos have a high opinion of Peterson.

"He’s a great player," Elway said. "Obviously, he’s got great measurables, plays great and a is big-time playmaker.”

Added general manager Brian Xanders: “He’s a great kid. We met with him multiple times. He has a rare body type for corner, because he’s 220 pounds, he runs a 4.32 and he’s a playmaker. He’s got a big upside and he loves football.”

Dareus and Nick Fairley draw high marks, too.

"He’s the biggest of them all," Xanders said of Dareus. "He’s a massive defensive tackle that’s versatile across the line of scrimmage. They play a 3-4 at Alabama. He plays anywhere from an eight technique on the tight end all the way down to nose. He’s a disruptive player. He’s hard to block when he’s stunting. He’s a physically strong guy. He’s probably the strongest defensive lineman.

"Nick Fairley is a pure three technique. He’s a disruptive, productive, competitive three technique. He’s a very tall, linear, athletic player. He’s a former basketball player. He’s got long arms and he has very good athleticism on the move. He’s a disruptive guy and he’s very hard to block. His production was very, very high for what he did. He was basically a one-year starter but he did very well with his opportunities. He’s got a big upside physically because he’s still developing."

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John Elway might be blowing smoke. Check. He is blowing smoke..

 

[playmaker7]

Elway knows talent when he fucking sees it.

 

[Mooche]

I think Dareus is basically a lock here. It doesn't really matter even if Cam drops, because with the injury concerns (I think they are overblown, but regardless) being there for Bowers it'll slip him up a bit. It's gonna be the tank from Alabama going to the Broncos IMO.