Is Newton the #1 quarterback?

Responding to critics saying his skills wouldn't translate to the NFL, Cam Newton held a media-only workout last weekend in San Diego. Since winning the national championship a month ago, Newton has been living and working out in San Diego with renowned quarterback trainer George Whitfield Jr. Whitfield was a former college and arena league quarterback and runs Whitfield Athletix in San Diego, a quarterback training program. He has worked with a number of quarterback prospects, including Ben Roethlisberger.

About 30 media outlets including ESPN and the NFL Network were invited. I watched some home videos of the workout and I gotta say... I'm on board. This dude looks like the real shit. I think he's going to be the #1 quarterback taken in the draft and possibly even the #1 overall pick.

NFL prospects rarely let the media see their workouts before the NFL combine,. The combine is a series of drills and written tests in which coaches from NFL teams attend and observe player's skills leading up to the draft. Newton's father, quickly becoming a master of hype, organized the workout, which took place two weeks before the first day of the NFL combine.

Newton worked almost exclusively out of the shotgun spread offense at Auburn last season. Some folks have questioned whether Newton could make a smooth transition to taking snaps from under center in the NFL. Newton said he wanted to show people that he's been working on that transition for the last month and show that he could in fact be effective under center. "Today was just a day for everybody to see and get a glimpse of what I do on an day-to-day basis," he said.

He looked really good in the workout, throwing deep passes all over the field with accuracy, and into a pretty strong wind too. His arm has that explosiveness that guys like Mike Vick and Brett Favre have. I think he's going to be fun to watch at very least next season. He also interviewed pretty well and didn't come off as as much of a dick as I figured he would have. Although I suppose the whole idea of holding a media day for no reason is kind of a cocky move in itself. Here's a slightly lengthy video of his interview and some workout highlights if you want to judge for yourself....

Oh, and peep how much of a boner Trent Dilfer gets while watching the workout...