The much anticipated pre-draft visit of Cam Newton, much like the Heisman trophy winning quarterback, was off and running Tuesday at One Bills Drive.
Newton arrived in Buffalo Monday night and dined with head coach Chan Gailey in downtown Buffalo. Tuesday morning he was at One Bills Drive, and after a physical spent the majority of his time with head coach Chan Gailey.
"He's a very impressive young man," said Gailey. "It was really a joy to be able to take him to dinner last night and to visit with him all morning this morning about the game of football and how he relates to the game. It was a very good visit."
Gailey outlined how he interacts with players in his one-on-one meetings with them during their pre-draft visits.
"I lay everything on the table with guys when they walk in here," Gailey said. "I try to get them to understand exactly who we are, what we're about, where we're going and how we plan to get there. And if we end up working together this is how they might fit into the scheme or the system."
"We bring them in to physical them, or they may be a question about a guy where we want to know how much football he knows," said Nix. "It doesn't mean he's not smart, but we want to know how much football he knows."
Nix cautioned in a brief press conference with the media after his address at the State of the Bills event not to read too much into Newton's pre-draft visit as he revealed that other quarterbacks like Missouri's Blaine Gabbert and Florida State's Christian Ponder will also be visiting One Bills Drive.
"We haven't done anymore work on Cam Newton than we have Blaine Gabbert, than we have Christian Ponder, (Marcell) Dareus," he said. "All those guys… it's due diligence. We've put too much stock in it and it's our job to do what we're doing."
Following his visit with the Bills Newton is reportedly scheduled to have a private workout with the Minnesota Vikings Wednesday at Auburn followed by a pre-draft visit with the Cincinnati Bengals over the weekend. The Auburn quarterback then reportedly has an April 5th meeting with Carolina and an April 6th date with Tennessee. Cleveland, Denver and Washington are also reported to be on Newton's pre-draft visit schedule as well.
"For me it's been extremely exciting," said Newton of the pre-draft process while at the NFL combine last month. "This whole path to where I am right now has been something of a whirlwind to say the least. At the same time this is what I signed up for. I'm blessed. I can't even say that enough."
