The Mitch Trubisky doubters club feels abnormally high. It’s difficult to understand why. While he’s not playing like an elite, he’s been showing considerable progress the past few weeks. He posted his third-straight game over 300 yards passing and has 11 touchdown passes with three interceptions in those games.
It hasn’t all been perfect but some people are acting like he’s Rex Grossman out there. Then again most of those people are fans or media outlets who make clear they didn’t actually watch much tape of his play. All things considered, he’s been better than half the other quarterbacks in this league and not even close to the reason this team is struggling.
So the best thing to do is hear what others around the NFL are thinking. Actual football guys who do this for a living. Not media types who get paid to have an opinion. One that doesn’t serve a fair evaluation but merely generates buzz. Turns out there’s an undercurrent of eyes watching Trubisky from afar.
Their impressions of him have been improving, and fast.
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GM claims Mitch Trubisky looking a lot like early Cam Newton
Jeff Hughes of Da Bears Blog has a long established connection with a top executive in the NFL, though he remains nameless for security reasons. The information he’s passed along over the past months would indicate this source is legitimate, which is why it was fascinating to hear what the GM’s front office staff were saying about Trubisky thus far.
“I haven’t watched beyond the highlights but our pro guys like what they see. Reminds them of early Cam Newton, both positive and negative.”
Now there’s a comparison people haven’t heard yet, and it’s got plenty of validity. His first year in the NFL, Newton was the quintessential hot-cold quarterback. He threw for 4,000 yards, ran for 706 and accounted for 35 touchdowns (14 rushing). However, he also completed just 60% of his passes with 17 interceptions. Mechanics were a constant issue for him, and they led to sloppy throws that should’ve been easy.
His deep accuracy was a big problem On the year he went 33-of-89 on passes of 20 yards or more. That’s a completion rate of 37.07%. Not good. Yet it wasn’t the end of the world was it? Newton has since developed into one of the more underrated passers in the NFL with three Pro Bowls and an MVP to his name. If he could do it, why can’t Trubisky?
