Obsessedsportsnut's Blog

Cam Newton. Colin Kaepernick. Two quarterbacks, who in the past 5 years have been inevitably linked due to their stark similarities and have both been credited to revolutionizing the way football is played at the QB position.

The similarities between the two are numerous. Both are non-traditional, non-white, non-pocket passing QBs who rely equally as much on their mobility and legs as they do their arm. Both have received their share of unfair criticism regarding their touchdown celebrations, from Kaepernick’s “Kaepernicking” to Cam’s “Dabbing”. Both of their character’s have been questioned, having both been called arrogant and bad role models for the younger generation.

Both have had their successes in the NFL, but as we prepare for the buildup to Super Bowl XL, we see that their futures couldn’t be any more opposite.

Going back to the 2011 draft, Cam Newton, the 2010 Heisman Trophy winner, was the #1 draft pick by Carolina. 35 spots later in the 2nd round, Colin Kaepernick ended up being drafted by San Francisco. Four other QBs, Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert, Christian Ponder, and Andy Dalton were all drafted before Kaepernick. Two of them, Locker and Ponder, were out of the league by 2015.

I was never a big fan of Cam Newton, and thought that he was unworthy of being the #1 pick. However, he proved me and numerous media pundits wrong with a very impressive rookie season. Cam ended up winning the NFL Rookie of the Year and setting the record for most rushing touchdowns in a season. He took the league by storm and his future couldn’t be brighter.

Meanwhile back on the opposite side of the coast in San Francisco, Kaepernick was stuck on the bench behind Alex Smith, throwing just 5 passes the entire season.

However, it wouldn’t take long for Kaepernick to get his shot. Due to an injury to Alex Smith late in the 2012 season, Kaepernick got his opportunity to start and never looked back. Kaep invigorated the 49ers with his athleticism, combining to throw 10 TDs and rushing for 5 TDs in his 7 starts in the regular season, but it wasn’t until the playoffs when Kaep showed the league what he could really do.  In his first career playoff game, Kaepernick rushed for 181 yards and 2 TDS, as well as passing for 263 yards and 2 TDs. By the end of the game, Kaepernick was responsible for more yards than the entire Packers team.

In the NFC title game against Atlanta, Kaepernick helped the 49ers overcome a 17 point deficit, the largest in NFC championship game history. Again in the Super Bowl, the 49ers overcame a 22-point lead, with a chance to win in the closing seconds of the game, only to lose on a strong goal line stand by Baltimore.

While Kaepernick ultimately fell short winning the Super Bowl, he still upstaged Cam Newton as the future of the NFL, and Cam took a backseat to Kaepernick and the 49ers as the Panthers did not even make the playoffs this year. Kaepernick’s stock couldn’t be higher.

The 2013 postseason finally gave us a matchup between the 49ers and Panthers in the playoffs, a much anticipated showdown between Cam and Kaep. Both teams finished the season 12-4, with only the Seattle Seahawks at 13-3 having a better record.

The 49ers ended up prevailing on the road 23-10. Cam Newton threw for 2 INTs, while Kaepernick threw and rushed for a TD, “highlighted” by his celebration where he pretended to rip open his shirt while imitating Cam’s Superman touchdown celebration.

It was a bold, surprising move on the road by Kaepernick. When asked by reporters about it, Kaepernick replied, “Just a little shoutout.”. To whom when asked, he said, “I think you know the answer.”

It was no surprise that Kaepernick felt disrespected about being drafted in the 2nd round, 35 spots behind Cam Newton. Kaepernick had to feel vindicated, finally being able to beat his counterpart head-to-head on the road. He wanted to leave no doubt who the better QB was, and once again, we ended the season with Kaepernick clearly on top.

Moving forward, the 2014 regular season was a rather unforgettable one for both. While both QBs had average personal statistics, their teams did not find much success on the field.

The team’s performance did not match previous years’. The 49ers finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs, the first under Harbaugh’s tenure, while the Panthers actually finished worse at 7-8-1, yet still made the playoffs due to winning the NFC South.

Now we arrive at the near conclusion of the 2015 season, as Cam Newton is preparing for the Superbowl and Colin Kaepernick is home recovering from multiple surgeries.

Looking back, the 2015 season could not have turned out any more different for Cam and Kaepernick. Kaepernick lead the 49ers to a 2-6 record, throwing nearly as many interceptions as touchdowns (5 vs 6), before being benched in favor of Blaine Gabbert, one of the five quarterbacks drafted before him in the 2011 draft. Contrarily, Cam Newton lead the Panthers to a 15-1 record and is the clear favorite to win the league’s MVP award. In the process, Cam Newton has solidified himself as the one of the top 3 QBs in the league, while Kaepernick’s place as the starting QB of the 49ers next season is still very much up in the air.

What the heck happened in one season?

Well, it all comes down to franchise continuity and stability versus franchise disarray and chaos.

For the 49ers, the 2014 season and following off-season might go down as the worst year any franchise has ever gone through.

1. Jim Harbaugh was let go after a nasty power struggle between him and Jed York and Trent Balke.
2. 5 players retired, including two future Hall of Famers Patrick Willis and Justin Smith. Chris Borland, a rookie in 2014, and one of the lone bright spots on the team decided to end his football career after just one season due to concussions fears.
3. Frank Gore, the 49ers all time leader in rushing yards and tds, left via free agency.
4. Aldon Smith, one of the league’s most feared outside linebackers, was released after his 3rd DUI, just weeks before the start of training camp.

Despite all the noise and distractions surrounding Harbaugh’s fate throughout the 2014 season, Kaepernick proved himself to still be a very capable quarterback, a QB capable of making good throws when he needed to and running when he saw it necessary. However, in the beginning of the 2015 season, it seemed that he didn’t even deserve to be a starter in the NFL, making terrible decisions and throws week after week.

It was surprising to see Kaepernick struggle so much, especially after we learned that he spent the offseason training with Super Bowl winning QB Kurt Warner to improve his throwing mechanics and to learn how to be a better pocket passer. Was Kaepernick suddenly incapable of making a simple throw to an open receiver anymore? Did he suddenly forget how to throw accurately?

While it’s easy to point fingers and criticize the play of Kaepernick as the cause of the 49ers troubles, he was placed in an impossible situation to succeed.

Many criticized the hiring of Jim Tomsula, a defensive minded coach who’s never been a defensive coordinator in his career, as the successor to Harbaugh. However, it was the hiring of Geep Chryst as offensive coordinator that was far more egregious. Chryst had previously been an offensive coordinator only once in his career, for the 1999-2000 San Diego Chargers. These are the same 2000 Chargers who finished 1-15 and averaged 66.4 yards of rushing a game, the lowest by any team in NFL history. As an offensive coordinator, Chryst never once has shown that he could run a capable offense. What’s worse, as quarterbacks coach under Harbaugh, he never once showed that he deserved another chance to run an offense again.

Paired together, Tomsula and Chryst were incapable as head coach and offensive coordinator to create a game plan that would place Kaepernick in the best position to succeed, and without any offensive philosophy, they were clearly out of their league. They tried making Kaepernick solely a pocket passer, which clearly he’s not. Coupled that with the rash of injuries and young inexperienced players on the roster, there was absolutely no the way the 49ers had any chance to succeed last season.

Looking over at the Carolina Panthers, Cam Newton has played under the same head coach, offensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach for the past three years, a rarity in the world of football as coaches and coordinators are so often replaced. Even as the Panthers struggled to a 7-8-1 record in 2014, Jerry Richardson, the owner of the Panthers, still gave his entire support behind coach Ron Rivera and his entire staff. This sense of continuity and stability gave Newton the environment to succeed and become the player he is today.

We’re about to enter the off-season with Geep Chryst gone and Tomsula replaced by Chip Kelly, who will also act as the de facto offensive coordinator. No one knows if Chip Kelly’s zone-read offense will be successful in the NFL, but at least fans can know that the 49ers will have at least some semblance of an offensive identity next season and that there is hope for a prolific offense. That’s way more than the 49ers could have asked for last season.

Chip Kelly and Colin Kaepernick are seemingly made for each other. Chip finally has the QB in Kaep to run his offense, while Kaep finally has another coach, aside from Harbaugh, who will put him in the best position to succeed. It’s a match that on paper should give hope to the 49er faithful.

Right now, Cam Newton is the player who 49ers fans wish Colin Kaepernick would be. Here’s hoping that Chip Kelly takes him to that next level.