The Carolina Panthers almost drafted Missouri product Blaine Gabbert ahead of Cam Newton.
Head coach Ron Rivera admitted that Gabbert had the coaching staff's attention for the team's overall No. 1 draft pick in 2011, but they ended up liking Newton just a little bit more.
"As you go through it, you look for certain things, certain characteristics," Rivera told the Charlotte Observer. "And probably the biggest difference was the situation Cam had been in, going through the adversity and then coming out on top."
Needless to say, the Panthers gamble with Newton's checkered past paid huge dividends. He may have struggled to take the Panthers to the next level at first, finishing with losing seasons in his first two campaigns, but the potential was there. Newton won Offensive Rookie of the Year honors and eventually took Carolina to the promised land last season, albeit in a losing cause.
