For the second-straight year, the Heisman Trophy winner was the top pick in the NFL draft.  That makes 19 Heisman winners who have been taken No. 1.

But should Cam Newton have been the first player drafted?

Let me qualify things by first making clear my opinion of the NFL.  Unlike most pundits, I do not believe that the style of football played in the league is necessarily the best in existence.  The NFL does have more elite players or, to be more exact, fewer bad players, than the college ranks, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the brand of football is superior.

I prefer the college game in large part because of the numerous innovations that take place there.  College football is dominated by systems, primarily on the offensive side of the ball.  Not taking into this into account–as often happens–leaves out a large part of the storyline when it comes to describing the sport.

That all said, one has to be a realist when it comes to projecting the abilities of college players to the NFL.  The fact is, NFL offenses are largely homogeneous.  There are a few exceptions and because of the rise of the spread in the college game, there has been some trickle-up effect when it comes to style.  But most teams run variations on the standard West Coast Offense.

Since many pundits and fans assume the NFL is the highest form of football, they assume the offenses are the be-all and end-all of the sport and, so, we get statements like this from Tom Luginbill:

As many strengths as the spread offense has, and it has many, it has hindered the development of quarterbacks.  The essential principles of productive quarterback play [footwork, balance, transfer of weight and timing] are often compromised in the spread.

Luginbill’s statement is only true as it pertains to the current dominant NFL offensive style.  Yes, the spread does not prepare quarterbacks for playing in the West Coast Offense.  Why should it?  The West Coast Offense doesn’t prepare a quarterback for any other system, either.  Try to put Peyton Manning in the Wishbone and he would look bad.  As a quarterback, you are in the system you are in and you either do well or you don’t do well in it.  And call me silly, but to me the essential principles of productive quarterback play are points and yards accumulated through the air and on the ground, not procedural elements like footwork and timing.  You know what makes a quarterback productive?  Production.  The spread has not compromised that–on the contrary, it has augmented it to an almost ridiculous level at the quarterback position.

Nonetheless, many NFL offensive coaches refuse to adapt to the new styles.  In effect, the teams in the league have a protectionist employment policy in place, with the grizzled old coaches–and often their offspring–being the beneficiaries.  The playbooks are huge and perplexing.  Many of the plays are long paragraphs that couldn’t fit in a Tweet.  As a result, the complexity of the scheme requires coaches who can teach it.  If NFL teams actually drafted spread quarterbacks and let them run the spread or variations of it, with all the simplicity it entails, they’d be out of a job.  By running the same convoluted offense that most of the other teams run, it not only inoculates the coaches from blame over the system they choose to run (“Hey, we ran the same system as the Super Bowl champs, it can’t be the system’s fault!”), but it allows easy access to employment with another team when the inevitable firing happens.

The problem is that most college teams no longer run NFL-style offenses.  So that means the pool of draftable quarterbacks who know the West Coast Offense is dwindling.  Common sense would dictate that you should then adjust your offense to fit the talent that is available to you.  But that’s not the NFL way.  The spread and other exotic college systems are a threat to their way of life.  Instead, they draft spread quarterbacks with the intent of reconstructing them to be under-center, pocket passers.  Why let Cam Newton gain a first down on a designed run or scramble when you can take years to teach him to restrain his athleticism, stay in the pocket, take a 7-step drop, so he can throw a 6-yard pass to a tight end 5-yards away who can then fall forward for a 4-yard gain, thus putting the punt team in a much better position?  Ah, the league.

With that all said, and in the context of this discussion, it’s pure folly to make Cam Newton the No. 1 pick unless you are going to let him be Cam Newton and not try to turn him into something he is not.  Would you hire Elvis at your night club and tell him to sing jazz?  Of course not.

That doesn’t mean Cam Newton can’t be a good NFL-style quarterback.  But it will take time, which is something most coaches don’t have.  And I don’t think someone who needs a lot of time to be an NFL quarterback is worthy of the No. 1 pick.

Beyond all these issues, I’m also not sure Newton has the mental make up to make it in the NFL.  Could he be a superstar?  Absolutely.  But he could also quit five games into his career.  Observing him at the Heisman ceremony, something was just off about the guy.

He’s an incredible talent and his upside is amazing, but the NFL is a different animal than college.  Not a good pick by the Panthers.