Explain Cam to me

[Kaos]

I don't watch much NFL, but... 

There are literally 20 quarterbacks currently in the game who are substantially worse than Cam even when he's not at his best. 

Russell Wilson, Zach Wilson, Nick Foles, Andy Dalton, Geno Smith, Gardner Minshew, Tua, Mac Jones, Davis Mills, Gardner Minshew, Daniel Jones, Kenny Pickett, Trace McSorely, Desmond Ridder, Tyler Huntley, Crab Thief, Sam Darnold, Taylor Heinekie, Baker Mayfield .....Really?

The worse version of Cam is still a better leader and a better athlete than any of these jackasses. He's still working out, his shoulder - which was the real problem all along - should be fully healed. Give him even a tiny amount of surrounding talent and he's still got the capacity to lead a team to be better than it was.  With a half decent line, a fair RB and a receiver or two, he's the kind of player who could make a Super Bowl run, something none of the assorted cast of misfit toys above could EVER do.   Why is he sitting around doing cigar podcasts and wearing funny hats?

You put Cam in Miami and sent Tua packing?  The Dolphins are a 12-win or better team.  I just don't get it.

[GH2001]

simply put?

Cam's body is done.

Yes his arm and skill are probably mid pack but his body is never going to be the same again. He got hit his first 5-6 years in the league than any QB legally should have. The damage is done and I think most GM's know that.

[wesfau2]

simply put?

Cam's body is done.

Yes his arm and skill are probably mid pack but his body is never going to be the same again. He got hit his first 5-6 years in the league than any QB legally should have. The damage is done and I think most GM's know that.

Fuck Shula, Rivera and the entire Panthers organization for what they did to Cam.

[Kaos]

simply put?

Cam's body is done.

Yes his arm and skill are probably mid pack but his body is never going to be the same again. He got hit his first 5-6 years in the league than any QB legally should have. The damage is done and I think most GM's know that.

Is it?  He's still got the wheels, doesn't he?  After his shoulder got helmet-speared, he tried to come back before it was ready (pushed by the Panthers to do so) and damaged it to the point he probably needed a year off to completely heal.  During that time he could barely throw at all.  If it IS healed - and from what I've read and heard it should be - he won't have to run like he did before. 

I really don't understand why he isn't even getting looks when absolute no-talent hacks and flops like Foles and Mac Jones are still floating around the league. 

Maybe it's just me. 

[GH2001]

Fuck Shula, Rivera and the entire Panthers organization for what they did to Cam.

sad but true sir.

[Kaos]

Fuck Shula, Rivera and the entire Panthers organization for what they did to Cam.

This is why, deep down, I didn't want Matt Rhule to come to Auburn as much as I preferred him to Freeze.  I sort of understand he wanted to move on and make his own Cam-less mark on the program.  Thought it was shitty the way he let it play out. 

[Snaggletiger]

If he checked out medically, I'd give him a shot for a reasonable price.  The roles would be reversed at this point. When he was in his studly prime, I'm sure they kept pushing him out there, despite his injuries.  Now, I would think they would check him out thoroughly before taking a flyer on him.  If he's relatively healthy, and I would hope he would be with this time off, he should definitely get another chance in the league.

[GH2001]

Is it?  He's still got the wheels, doesn't he?  After his shoulder got helmet-speared, he tried to come back before it was ready (pushed by the Panthers to do so) and damaged it to the point he probably needed a year off to completely heal.  During that time he could barely throw at all.  If it IS healed - and from what I've read and heard it should be - he won't have to run like he did before. 

I really don't understand why he isn't even getting looks when absolute no-talent hacks and flops like Foles and Mac Jones are still floating around the league. 

Maybe it's just me.

Its absolutely a known in the league on his body. And at his age, not good. It just goes downhill from there. If he were 26 it would be different. He got hit more than any QB in history in that span.

[Kaos]

Its absolutely a known in the league on his body. And at his age, not good. It just goes downhill from there. If he were 26 it would be different. He got hit more than any QB in history in that span.

I guess it's my own fault that I kind of believed this. 

I will never forget watching him take a pretty good pop against LSU near their goal line.  I'm standing on the sidelines, about even with where he fell. The man is face down on the ground, body lightly shaking. I'm thinking Apollo Creed in Rocky 4.  My heart almost fell out of my chest. Terrified he might have been hurt. 

Everybody else is up and getting back to the line.  He's still face-first on the turf.  About the time people start to figure out he's still down and you can feel the air about to get sucked out of the stadium, he turns his head, huge grin on his face. He's shaking because he's laughing.  About what? Who the fuck knows.  But he pops right back up, trots over to his spot and - still smiling  - runs the next play. 

Legend.  I decided then he was supernatural.  Guess I still do. 

Watched him win in Carolina with no receivers, a shit line, an average back.  Only one real option in the passing game - a good tight end.  He carried that team.  And you'll NEVER get me to believe he wasn't forced to step aside for Peyton's career coronation. It was the story the NFL wanted told and why he was so completely pissed off in the post-game.  I've always believed the NFL was scripted. Not to the level of the WWE, but not as far away from it as some would believe. There are stories the NFL wants and thinks WE want to see. Cam butchering favorite son Peyton in his swan song wasn't one of them.  The league cheated him and has since treated him like dog shit because he didn't accept it with grace.

[GH2001]

I was also one of the ones who thought he would be the one to take the hits and it not affect him. When all the naysayers said he wouldn't get away with it. I thought he was a generational type talent that came along and would change the game somewhat how Brady and to a lesser extent Vick did (with his legs). Even at his size, the league is a violent place. They are big, strong, fast and that just adds up after a while - especially when the refs and the league were not protecting QB's enough (until they HAD to). I never realized how fast and brutal upper D1 and NFL games were until I was close to the action a few years ago. It blew my mind. Im honestly shocked more guys don't get CTE or other lasting effects.

[Kaos]

I was also one of the ones who thought he would be the one to take the hits and it not affect him. When all the naysayers said he wouldn't get away with it. I thought he was a generational type talent that came along and would change the game somewhat how Brady and to a lesser extent Vick did (with his legs). Even at his size, the league is a violent place. They are big, strong, fast and that just adds up after a while - especially when the refs and the league were not protecting QB's enough (until they HAD to). I never realized how fast and brutal upper D1 and NFL games were until I was close to the action a few years ago. It blew my mind. Im honestly shocked more guys don't get CTE or other lasting effects.

Yeah.  I agree with that.

I've been on the NFL sidelines in Atlanta and Dallas.  If you've only watched it on TV or from the middle to upper reaches of the stands there's no way you can comprehend the sheer violence of it.  You think Warren Sapp is a big, slow guy.  He is big. Massive, in fact. But he wasn't slow at all. Faster backward than most of us could run forward. I watched guys get repeatedly hit in ways that would land me in the hospital and they just get up and go back to it.  I saw Keyshawn Johnson get blindsided on a crossing route and the sound... it was like a car crash right outside your window.  Jumped right back up went to the huddle. 

The best player by far that I ever coached or saw in high school, a guy who was a four-year starter in the SEC, looked almost pedestrian in the league. 

I still thought Cam was above that and able to withstand it.  Can't convince me that even at 60- 75% Cam isn't better than the 20 or so I listed.

[Snaggletiger]

I'm trying to remember the game, but it was a night game later on in his career.  Still with the Panthers.  But I vividly recall him taking two wicked blows to the head.  Both intentional launching and spearing.  Neither called.  They were as obvious and any I've seen, but I got the impression that either the league didn't want him protected, or someone in charge had some serious $$$$ on the game.

[Kaos]

I'm trying to remember the game, but it was a night game later on in his career.  Still with the Panthers.  But I vividly recall him taking two wicked blows to the head.  Both intentional launching and spearing.  Neither called.  They were as obvious and any I've seen, but I got the impression that either the league didn't want him protected, or someone in charge had some serious $$$$ on the game.

He offended the NFL Gods by not smiling happily and putting the money in his pocket when his team was tasked with taking a dive against the inept Peyton-led Broncos in the Superbowl.  He wanted to win and didn't like it at all.  He got pissed, showed it and all the promises he was made -- "you'll get your turn and you'll get to win one later in your career" were thrown out. 

NFL is fake.   

[CCTAU]

No team wants the clown show without the wins and production.
He went of the deep end and it got noticed.