Is there a story behind Cade McNown's flopping?

[Jeremy Crowhurst]

McNown's fall from grace came pretty quickly, he went from starting in year two to competing for the third-string jobs in Chicago, Miami, and San Fran.

It's easy to understand when someone like Jamarcus Russell flames out, after hitting 300 lbs and too much purple drank. But is there some sort of "more to the story" with McNown that wasn't as widely published as Russell's troubles or, for example, Ryan Leaf's? Or was it just injuries and a lack of talent?

[JWL]

He got too full of himself and didn't care about football much. Also, I think he was banned from the Playboy mansion.

[BD Sullivan]

His character (and intelligence) was in question during his UCLA days, routinely parking in handicapped spots. After getting upset about being accused of it--saying that he was innocent, he ended up pleading no contest in court:

http://articles.latimes.com/1999/oct/01/sports/sp-17518

[7DnBrnc53]

And to think, UCLA gave him a scholarship in 1995 over Tom Brady.

[Bryan]

I remember watching a lot of Cade McNown's UCLA games...they were usually exciting sometimes they were the only late game on TV. It seemed like UCLA's offense was McNown lobbing the ball deep to Danny Farmer, and Farmer outreaching the DB for the ball. McNown averaged 10 yards an attempt his junior year, and nearly matched that his senior year.

As to why he flopped, aside from the character issues already mentioned, McNown wasn't big or athletic, and even though he threw deep he didn't really have a great arm. If you look at the PAC10 in the mid-90's, it was really a down time for the conference. USC was mediocre, Oregon hadn't become a power, Washington had fallen off. Akilli Smith was so productive at Oregon that he ended up being the 3rd overall pick and even a worse flop than McNown. At one point during McNown's senior year, he and UCLA had won 20 games in a row. UCLA was to play Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, and ESPN's Craig James said that Wisconsin was "the worst team to make it to the Rose Bowl"....Wisconsin naturally won the game.

So, IMO, perhaps McNown simply wasn't that good. Just a product of being good enough to take advantage of nice supporting cast while playing in a very overrated conference. And then going to the Chicago Bears probably wasn't the best thing for any aspiring QB, and then spending two years with Gary Crowton as your OC was just one obstacle too many for McNown.

[7DnBrnc53]

I remember watching a lot of Cade McNown's UCLA games...they were usually exciting sometimes they were the only late game on TV. It seemed like UCLA's offense was McNown lobbing the ball deep to Danny Farmer, and Farmer outreaching the DB for the ball. McNown averaged 10 yards an attempt his junior year, and nearly matched that his senior year.

As to why he flopped, aside from the character issues already mentioned, McNown wasn't big or athletic, and even though he threw deep he didn't really have a great arm. If you look at the PAC10 in the mid-90's, it was really a down time for the conference. USC was mediocre, Oregon hadn't become a power, Washington had fallen off. Akilli Smith was so productive at Oregon that he ended up being the 3rd overall pick and even a worse flop than McNown. At one point during McNown's senior year, he and UCLA had won 20 games in a row. UCLA was to play Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, and ESPN's Craig James said that Wisconsin was "the worst team to make it to the Rose Bowl"....Wisconsin naturally won the game.

So, IMO, perhaps McNown simply wasn't that good. Just a product of being good enough to take advantage of nice supporting cast while playing in a very overrated conference. And then going to the Chicago Bears probably wasn't the best thing for any aspiring QB, and then spending two years with Gary Crowton as your OC was just one obstacle too many for McNown.

Wonder why they gave him a scholarship over Brady.

[Bryan]

Wonder why they gave him a scholarship over Brady.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2563 ... -tom-brady

[L.C. Greenwood]

Wonder why they gave him a scholarship over Brady.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2563 ... -tom-brady

Tom Brady also dealt with plenty of adversity at Michigan, in terms of on-field performance. He wasn't nearly as consistent as other future HOF QBs were in college, but that ability to grind through the tough times helped him later. When his unimpressive Combine helped to make Brady a sixth round pick, it just motivated him even more to be a great pro. The NFL has seen plenty of high QB draft choices who didn't face adversity in college, and when they struggled in the NFL, it was damaging. I've heard Dan Marino talk about his disappointing senior season at Pitt, and how that experience helped him in the NFL.

[BD Sullivan]

Wonder why they gave him a scholarship over Brady.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2563 ... -tom-brady

Tom Brady also dealt with plenty of adversity at Michigan, in terms of on-field performance. He wasn't nearly as consistent as other future HOF QBs were in college, but that ability to grind through the tough times helped him later. When his unimpressive Combine helped to make Brady a sixth round pick, it just motivated him even more to be a great pro. The NFL has seen plenty of high QB draft choices who didn't face adversity in college, and when they struggled in the NFL, it was damaging. I've heard Dan Marino talk about his disappointing senior season at Pitt, and how that experience helped him in the NFL.

Marino also had to deal with unwarranted drug rumors that tried to explain his senior year dropoff.

[Hail Casares]

McNown was an absolute a** as well. Never really cared to put in the time or effort to become a good NFL QB. It was so bad that in his last season the team threatened to boycott the game if McNown was named the starter.

McNown had limited physical ability to begin with IMO and when his shoulder took a crap he couldn't really even hang around NFL rosters because of his talent as the expense of his 10 cent head.