Former Panthers QB Cam Newton gets massive compliment from NFL analyst

Former Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton has done things so few have ever done. Being a Heisman winner, National Champion, NFL MVP, and playing in a Super Bowl is such a rare combination of feats that Newton truly stands out amongst his football peers.

The Athletic attempted to rank all the best college football players from 2000 and beyond, and there have been some exceptional ones. Newton's one of them, but so is Joe Burrow, Tim Tebow, Reggie Bush, Andrew Luck, Travis Hunter, Ed Reed, Vince Young, and Ndamukong Suh. Per the outlet, Newton outranks them all.

The Athletic's Bruce Feldman said plainly, "He was college football’s Superman. He spent only one year at Auburn, transferring from Blinn College in Texas after starting his career at Florida, but it was the most remarkable single season by a major college quarterback in the history of the sport — enough to put him atop this list."

Feldman pointed out that the eventual Panthers QB shouldered a load unlike any other national champion QB in the history of the sport. "He didn’t have a single skill player drafted. Only tackles Brandon Mosley (fourth round) and Lee Ziemba (seventh round) were picked on the O-line. The entire starting defense had only two players drafted," Feldman noted.

The analyst also cited Daniel Jeremiah, a longtime draft scout and college guru who said, “He just dragged a bunch of average college players to the national championship. We always talk about the difference between trucks and the trailers — the quarterbacks that get pulled by the team versus the ones who pull the team. From a college football standpoint, there was no bigger truck than Cam Newton.”

Newton parlayed that into being the first overall selection in 2011, though there was some strange insistence that Blaine Gabbert or Jake Locker might be in play for Carolina as well. Newton won Rookie of the Year and then later an MVP, cementing himself as one of the best overall football players, counting college and the NFL, of all time.