Cam Newton on how Jalen Milroe helped himself going into the 2025 NFL draft

Panthers legend Cam Newton sees Jalen Milroe's impressive humility as a huge asset during pre-draft process.

Dec. 16, 2023; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Football star Cam Newton stands on the sidelines during the Cricket Celebration Bowl game between Florida A&M University and Howard University at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. FAMU defeated Howard 30-26. | Katie Goodale-USA TODAY Network

Going into the 2025 NFL draft, the top four quarterback prospects were considered to be Cam Ward, Shedeur Sanders, Jaxson Dart and Jalen Milroe. Ward went number one overall to the Tennesee Titans as expected and Dart landed with the New York Giants late in the first round. However, Sanders didn't hear his name called until the fifth round of the draft, costing him millions on his rookie contract.

Since then the impression coming from teams has been that Sanders came off poorly during interviews in the pre-draft process - usually described as some combination of aloof, arrogant or treating it like a recruiting trip rather than a job interview.

Meanwhile, Monroe apparently went completely the other direction - blowing teams away with his maturity, honesty and openness about the things he needed to work on. He wound up going to the Seattle Seahawks late in the third round at 92.

In his most-recent podcast, former Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton explained how Milroe's honesty during the pre-draft process helped him.

Jalen Milroe told teams the truth—no sugarcoating, no excuses@CameronNewton explains why honesty in the draft process can actually RAISE your stock, not hurt it pic.twitter.com/7Zv7uJvNAz

— 4th&1 with Cam Newton (@4thand1show) May 3, 2025

Specifically, Milroe needs to work on throwing with more touch as opposed to zipping everything. He also has to be more consistently accurate in the short and intermediate parts of the field and speed up his release time. However, as Newton mentioned he may be the most athletic QB in this class, with exceptional arm power and rushing prowess that's been compared to Newton as well as Lamar Jackson, who are the two best rushing quarterbacks of all time.

For now, Milroe will sit behind Sam Darnold and Drew Lock and work on growing, giving him time to develop the more raw parts of his game. As for Sanders,

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