Cam Newton has sound advice for Jameis Winston as he enters NFL

Not many men know what Jameis Winston has and will go through as intimately as Cam Newton does.

Newton was a national championship and Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, full of controversy off the field, and drafted No. 1 overall to an NFC South team who hoped he would carry the franchise to new heights. Unless the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a really shocking change of heart, Winston will be in the exact same situation when the Buccaneers take him first overall in the NFL draft on Thursday night.

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Newton has done just fine, helping the Carolina Panthers to two playoff berths while putting up some fantastic numbers with a less-than-stellar supporting cast on offense. But it wasn’t easy, and that’s his biggest bit of advice for Winston, given during on “In Depth with Graham Bensinger.”

“First, he’s a very bright young man. I don’t think that gets portrayed enough … For him coming into this league, one thing that he’s gonna always have to remind himself is … What’s my carrot?” Newton told Bensinger. “And with talking to him, he said some of the same things that I heard in myself: ‘I’m trying to be the best. I want to win Super Bowls …’

“Understand that it’s a celebration when you get drafted No. 1 overall, but the realization is – and I say this to be real – you’re getting drafted to the league’s worst team. So it’s a process that goes with that.”

That’s worthwhile advice, especially since Newton and Winston both won big and often in college. Winston didn’t experience his first loss until his final college game, finishing 27-1 at Florida State. Newton, in his one season at Auburn, went 14-0 and won a national title. He also won a national championship at Blinn Junior College and was a backup on Florida’s 2008 national title team. Neither of them was used to losing at all coming to the NFL.

The best bet is it won’t be easy for Winston at Tampa Bay, which was 2-14 last season. Newton knows.

“Especially when I came in the league, I was so young and like a raging lion coming into like a meat house,” Newton told Bensinger. “I just wanted to win. It was just like, ‘Yeah it don’t matter what team I’m going on, I’m gonna win.’ Because for so long, throughout that three-year span [winning collegiate championships], that’s how it felt.”

There’s a huge transition going into the pros, and it’s not just the mammoth task of learning NFL defenses and a whole new offense. Winston is charismatic and seems to have some leadership abilities, but it will be a whole new world for him early in his NFL career.

“When I came to the NFL, that was a problem because here I am, I have the likeness of 35-year-olds, 28-year-olds, 25, and I’m 22 trying to be a leader of men,” Newton told Bensinger. “Not only that, they gonna get paid regardless, whether they give up a sack, whether they get sacks, whether they work hard, whether they gain weight, whether they lose weight – doesn’t matter. So it’s hard for me to transition and then on top of that, lose.”

As Winston dives into the next phase of his football career, there will be a lot to deal with. Newton has been through it. It would probably be wise if Winston listened to his advice.

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