Cam Newton was selected by the Carolina Panthers as the No. 1 pick in the annual NFL Draft on Thursday, as the most popular sport in the US enjoyed a brief return to normality after months of bitter squabbling.
Fans at New York City’s Radio City Hall booed NFL commissioner Roger Goodell when he initially walked on to the stage to announce the first pick, chanting: “We want football, we want Football” as he reached for the microphone.
“I agree with you,” Goodell said, before revealing the No. 1 pick, instantly thrusting Newton into the national sporting spotlight with the chance to earn a fortune if he can emulate the likes of Troy Aikmen and Peyton Manning.
“Man, am I happy,” said Newton, a 1.82m-tall, 113kg quarterback from Auburn University. “I’m glad for it to be over. There’s been some sleepless nights.”
The Panthers, who were given the first pick because they finished with the NFL’s worst record last season (2-14), were always expected to choose Newton, who won the Heisman Trophy last year as the outstanding player in college football.
The 21-year-old helped the Auburn Tigers compile a perfect 14-0 record, culminating with a win in the BCS National Championship game in January, while throwing 30 touchdowns and just seven interceptions.
Von Miller, an outside linebacker from Texas A&M who is one of the plaintiffs in the antitrust lawsuit against the NFL, was selected as the second pick by the Denver Broncos and instinctively wrapped his arms around Goodell, hugging the commissioner when his name was called out.
So too did Alabama defensive tackle Marcell Dareus, who was chosen third by the Buffalo Bills as the labor dispute was briefly forgotten.
“I don’t know what the NFL and NFLPA, the Players Association, what they have going on,” Dareus said. “I’m a part of it now, but at that moment I made it to that point, and everybody was shaking his hand and I wanted to give him a hug because I finally made it to the big dance.”
The on-stage embraces provided some sweet relief to the strained public relations between the teams and players over the past few months and put the focus back on the sport.
“It’s like Christmas and opening the presents,” Bills general manager Buddy Nix said.
The Cincinnati Bengals snapped up wide receiver A.J. Green of Georgia with the fourth choice, while the Arizona Cardinals followed by making defensive back Patrick Peterson of Louisiana State University the fifth pick.
Keen to find the missing piece in a drive for the Super Bowl, the Atlanta Falcons (13-3 last season) traded the 27th pick of the first round, their second and fourth-round picks, and their first and fourth-round spots next year to Cleveland for the sixth pick that they used for receiver Julio Jones of Alabama.
Of the 32 first-round picks decided on the first of three days of the draft, 12 were defensive linesman.
The top dozen picks featured four quarterbacks, including Newton. The Tennessee Titans chose the University of Washington’s Jake Locker as the eighth pick, the Jacksonville Jaguars traded with Washington to move up to the 10th pick to take Missouri’s Blaine Gabbert, while the Minnesota Vikings landed Christian Ponder of Florida State with the 12th selection.
Newton’s achievements on the college gridiron were mixed with a major controversy over his eligibility after it was revealed that his father Cecil Newton, who played two seasons for the Dallas Cowboys as a safety, had tried to solicit payments from another university for his son’s services, in violation of the strict amateur rules for college players.
Newton was briefly declared ineligible to play, but later reinstated after no evidence was found proving he had any knowledge of his father’s activities.
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