Should Jimmy Clausen Get a Second Chance?

It was only two years ago that Jimmy Clausen was being discussed as the number one quarterback in the NFL draft if an injured Sam Bradford decided to come back for a junior season.

In football, two years can be a lifetime, and for Clausen it only took 10 starts for the Carolina Panthers to give up on their 2010 2^nd round pick. Cam Newton, Carolina’s 2011 first round draft choice, is more than just the quarterback of the future in Carolina, he’s the identity the franchise had been searching for since their inaugural season in 1995. He’s what some in Carolina had hoped Jimmy Clausen could be.

But thus far Jimmy Clausen has been nothing but a powder keg of potential. Countless reports have been written about how good Jimmy Clausen was going to be since his junior year of high school in 2005. He was called the “LeBron James of football,” and every big name school from USC, near his home in Thousand Oaks, California, to Tennessee, where his brother Casey lead the the Volunteers to three winning seasons, tried to recruit Clausen. Clausen opted for the glory of Notre Dame, where then head coach Charlie Weis salivated over the opportunity to inject Clausen into his pro-style offense.

But the Clausen/Weis era was a disaster for Notre Dame, leading to Weis’ firing after the 2009 season, which lead Clausen to declare himself eligible for the 2010 NFL draft. Early projections saw Clausen going in the early first round, but draft day 2010 was less kind. Teams such as Buffalo, Jacksonville, San Francisco, and Cleveland, all seemingly needing quarterbacks, passed on Clausen until he ended up in Carolina, a situation that looked excellent for the young passer, given that long time Panthers starter Jake Delhomme was moving on, and the Panthers were a team only a year removed from the two seed in the NFC.

But 2010 was such a disaster in Carolina that John Fox, the head coach who drafted Clausen, lost his job. Wide receiver Steve Smith publicly griped about Clausen’s poor play, and it was even rumored that Clausen’s teammates vehemently disliked him, a reputation that had been following the young passer since high school.

But Clausen is still young, and at age 24 he’s played in a lot of games, seen a lot of adversity, and has played for some excellent coaches to potentially learn from. In the long run, his awful rookie campaign and this year on the bench could supplement his three years as a starter at Notre Dame towards developing Clausen into a better NFL player. Perhaps he learned from his shortcomings as a leader in Carolina and can one day become a captain elsewhere.

But right now there’s nothing Jimmy Clausen can do. Barring a major injury to Cam Newton, Clausen will not see the field the rest of the 2011 season. Odds are that Carolina will fully endorse Newton at the end of the year and part ways with Clausen’s salary, allowing Clausen and his agent to decide where the best place for Jimmy Clausen to continue his NFL career will be.

But there’s one problem: teams traditionally don’t invest their future in other teams damaged goods. Clausen will also hit a market that includes Kyle Orton, David Garrard, Vince Young, Brady Quinn, Chad Pennington, Matt Flynn, and potentially Peyton Manning. Though Clausen is likely viewed as having more upside than those players (based entirely on age), odds are that at least some of those players are going to inherit the open starting jobs, forcing Clausen to follow Matt Leinart and the aforementioned Young in taking backup jobs in situations they seem as potentially fruitful.

Or maybe Clausen won’t be so lucky. Maybe teams like Jacksonville, Cleveland, St. Louis, Minnesota, Seattle, or Arizona won’t want him. Maybe Clausen will be forced to sign on as a backup to a well-engraved starter such as Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, or Matthew Stafford. But Clausen doesn’t deserve that, not yet.

But for Jimmy Clausen it’s never been about learning, growing, and developing. Dating back to his days in high school he’s been expected to be great, resulting in a sense of entitlement. And while the LeBron James comparisons have become laughable, Jimmy Clausen should get another shot to be an NFL starter. Clausen has potential and he has talent, what he didn't have were the intangibles, but this summer some NFL team will buy into what the scouts have written one more time, and give Jimmy Clausen one last chance to prove they're right.

The Panthers Should Start Cam Newton Week 1 No Matter What

2004. With the first overall pick the San Diego Chargers select, Eli Manning. Quarterback. University of Mississippi.

As we know the Chargers later traded that pick for Philip Rivers and lived happily ever after, right?

Not quite.

Though Rivers has been astounding, the real blunder the Chargers made that year was giving up on Drew Brees, who in 2004 developed into an all star quarterback, and by 2006 was an all-pro. The Chargers ended up getting two productive years out of Brees before letting him set sail to New Orleans. Brees has since won an offensive player of the year award, has been a perennial pro bowler, and of course a Super Bowl MVP.

Last year the Panthers drafted Jimmy Clausen, a quarterback out of Notre Dame in the second round of the draft. Clausen showed some signs of being pro ready, but in reality would have benefited from staying one more year at the college level, at least from a developmental standpoint. Despite a below average rookie season by post 1998 standards, Clausen does have many of the tools necessary to succeed in the NFL.

Unfortunately for Clausen, the Panthers have decided to put their future in the hands of this years #1 overall selection Cam Newton out of Auburn. Newton possesses tremendous physical talent, but his game could use a little seasoning before he steps into the pros. The issue for Newton becomes, what if Clausen becomes Brees?

And if you think Brees is a rarity, I'd beg to differ. Kurt Warner in 2007 over Matt Leinart. Derek Anderson in 2007 over Brady Quinn. Kyle Orton this offseason over Tim Tebow. These are all in the past few years. The idea of Jimmy Clausen stepping in and succeeding on a Panthers offense that really isn't that bad isn't too far fetched. It could happen, and it would be a mess for Carolina.

Tebow and Quinn were low-risk late first round draft picks. Tebow and Quinn were both teams second first round draft picks that year. Cam Newton was the Panthers #1 overall pick, he's what the franchise plans to build it's future around. Carolina has never had a player as marketable as Newton who with a few good seasons could become the face of the league. If by some chance Jimmy Clausen comes in and does well the last thing Newton and the Panthers need is a controversy.

But the object is to win, right? Yes. And if Clausen looks like Brees circa 2004, then maybe you trade Cam Newton for a first overall pick, I'm sure you could get it. Odds are he won't and he'll look more like a 2007 Derek Anderson. Neither Quinn nor Anderson panned out for the Browns and today some scouts believe it was because of the mismanaging of the QB depth chart.

Put the ball in Newton's hands and see what he has for the next three years. Perhaps my philosophy is flawed, but in this era of free agency where a QB only has a 4 year contract to develop, you need to know if he's your guy or not almost right away.

Charlie Weis Heads to the Chiefs

After a suffering through a College Football season that felt like "the countdown to Charlie Weis getting fired," I was starting to get scared of all the offseason "where will Charlie Weis coach" rumors.

Immediately after he was fired, rumors of Weis reuniting with someone from the Parcells/Belichick tree began. Would he go to Cleveland? Belichick said he'd explore the idea when the season was over. Parcells spoke highly of Weis.

At the end of the day, it was the Kansas City Chiefs, who are now General Managed by Scott Pioli, a former Patriots executive.

The hiring of Weis raises the question as to whether or not the Chiefs are interested in drafting Jimmy Clausen to be the future of the franchise. Many scouts believe that it would be to Clausen's benefit to sit and watch the league for a season, instead of being thrown into the fire like Mark Sanchez. Drafting Clausen would raise the Chiefs future prospects, but it would also be the sign of a 40 million dollar mistake marking Pioli's first move as Chiefs GM; the acquiring of QB Matt Cassel.

Cassel ended 2009 with a 16 to 16 TD to INT ratio, 2,924 passing yards, and a 69.9 Quarterback rating. Though the Chiefs offensive weapons aren't exactly the Patriots offensive weapons (a system in which Cassel put up an 89.4 QB rating in 2008), Cassel still underperformed.

The signing of Charlie Weis opens the doors for all of these discussions as we enter an offseason in which the Chiefs would have seemed relative irrelevant.

Charlie Weis: Done

As if it weren't already inevitable, Charlie Weis' career as the head coach of Notre Dame likely ended today; and for good reason.

No hate towards UConn, but they were a 4-5 team entering the game, while the Irish were some people's preseason pick to go to the BCS, and maybe even the national championship. At this point, another Holiday Bowl bid seems like a good scenerio for the Irish. This time however, beating down on the Hawaii Warriors won't save Weis' job.

What's even worse is that Weis' career record is 35-26, with a .573 winning percentage; Lower than his predecessors Tyrone Willingham and Bob Davie. What also shines a light in Weis' face is that his two best seasons were with a lot of Willingham's recruits.

Jimmy Clausen will probably go pro. If he doesn't he's a bonehead. Weis has done a mediocre to below average job as the head coach of Notre Dame, and you can't blame the school's high academic standards for that, I mean, what about Stanford? They're having a better season than Notre Dame, and they have equal academic standards.

You can argue that Notre Dame has lost it's place as a top recruiting college, being replaced by the SEC, Texas, Penn State, Oklahoma, Miami, Ohio State, USC, and other big name schools, but how do you explain the schools recruitment of Jimmy Clausen, arguably the decades most sought after recruit? Clausen was from Southern California and opted away from USC, Tennessee (where his brother Casey played), and other schools with better professional resumes (post 1993) than Notre Dame.

On top of that, Notre Dame are currently ranked #11 on the Rivals.com Recruitment rankings, sandwiched in between USC and Miami. For 2009 the team finished #21, for 2008 the team finished #2, for 2007 the team finished #8, for 2006 the team finished #8, and for 2005 the team finished #40 despite late recruitment because of coaching change. So to make a long story short, Weis has had a perennial top 10 team in terms of recruit value, and has underperformed with it.

Let's be a little more honest. Weis has done horribly with it.

By comparison, Coach Phil Fulmer, a national championship winning coach for Tennessee who snagged Peyton Manning away from Ole Miss was fired after the 2008 season because he failed to reach a bowl game. The season before Fulmer's team was in the SEC Championship game against eventual national champion LSU, but that wasn't enough. Fulmer had a perennial top 10 recruiting team, but lost his job because he couldn't win a national championship with it.

Weis is not Phil Fulmer. The media, ESPN, and programs around the league have sucked any respectability out of Weis' name as a coach. How could a serious recruit choose Weis over Pete Carroll, Mack Brown Nick Saban, Les Miles, Urban Meyer, or Bob Stoops? Those are just some of the names that Weis has to compete with, and some of those names Notre Dame turned down to hire Weis.

So what now for Notre Dame? I've heard Jon Gruden, Phil Fulmer, Bob Stoops, and even Tony Dungy's names thrown around. Not going to happen. Stoops, maybe, but why? Oklahoma is a better program than Notre Dame, why leave to go to that mess?

Enough with that though. This article is about Charlie Weis, who like every other coach who left Bill Belichick, has failed miserably on his own. To their defense, even Belichick initially failed as a head coach when he strayed away from Bill Parcells after Super Bowl XXV. And that's where Weis will find his next home if he wants one. He'll have enough money to retire I'm sure, he could even transition to a studio somewhere, but if he wants to coach again, he'll have to find a job with Bill or Bill.

On this day, when Weis' firing seems absolute, there should be no Weis apologists. He was given the players, given the recruiting tools, and given the environment to succeed. Truth be told, Weis was always scared, thus, he never succeeded. He was a passionate guy, seemed like a good one too. He loved Notre Dame and was happy to be there. But that doesn't mean he was head coaching material.

He'll always be a champion coordinator though.

Notre Dame vs USC Preview

This decade USC's dominance over Notre Dame has had a lot to do with who was under center. Since 2003 the Trojans have produced three current starters on NFL rosters, and two backups. Notre Dame have given the league Brady Quinn.

But for the first time in this era, there is no doubt which team has the better Quarterback. At this point in time Jimmy Clausen is light years ahead of Matt Barkley. Notre Dame's offense is also better than USC's for the first time this rivalry.

I guess that's what happen when you're able to recruit "the kid with the golden arm."

Although Notre Dame have the offensive edge, USC still have the size, the depth, and the defense to make Notre Dame struggle. And I don't want to jump on the Charlie Weis pile on, so let's just say USC have the head coaching advantage here, too.

Neither the Trojans (4-1) or the Irish (4-1) have looked like competition for Florida, Alabama, or even Texas, this year, but this is still the most exciting rivalry on a national level right now. It's also Notre Dame's best shot to get a win with Weiss, a win that may be essential to Weis keeping his job.

Unless Jimmy Clausen stays for senior season, Notre Dame will likely reenter a one to two year rebuilding phase, beginning next year. This is USC's rebuilding. After this season Barkley is a veteran at the college level and USC will once again be national title contenders.

A lot is on the line this week for the Irish. Clausen staying for Senior year is part of it. A win, and national title hopes for 2010, or even this year, begin to emerge. A loss, and Clausen may take the money and run; especially after what happened to Sam Bradford.

Charlie Weis' job is also on the line. Boosters are tired of his act. A loss this Saturday, and Weis may return to Belichick's side in 2010 the way Belichick returned to Parcell's in 1996, and Weis doesn't want that, he may not even be given that sort of opportunity. Weis' collapse in Notre Dame is a lot worse than Belichick's inability to turn Vinny Testaverde into a Pro Bowler (although Testaverde did in 1996, Belichick's first year gone, and 1998, as a Jet with Belichick as defensive coordinator; no need for a Belichick as the reason Testaverde didn't succeed debate though... after all Belichick turned Brady into a Hall of Famer, and Cassell into a millionaire).

Here's the bottom line. Notre Dame are home. Both teams are coming off a bye, both teams BCS hopes are on the line. A win will mean the world for both programs, a loss will go a long way in sending each program backwards. But in college football, nine times out of ten you gotta go with the team with more talent winning the game.

This time the team with more talent is USC.

I hate to say it but the Trojans are going to go into South Bend and win 34 - 21.

Maybe Weis can catch on with Mangini in Cleveland and help develop Brady Quinn. If not I'm sure Big Bill has something for him to do in Miami. If that fails little Bill probably has something in New England. If that fails he and Romeo can co-coach a UFL team.

If that fails there's always pie eating contests. (Damn I said I wouldn't join in the pile on).

If Notre Dame win, Clausen wins the Heisman.