Pro Football Hall of Famer Warren Moon alleged this week that there is racism coloring the perception of top NFL draft prospect Cam Newton.  Moon told CBSSports.com that he is upset by depiction of Newton, the defending Heisman Trophy winner from Auburn, as being somehow unfit to run an NFL offense.  "A lot of the criticism he's receiving is unfortunate and racially based," Moon told CBS Sports. "I thought we were all past this. I don't see other quarterbacks in the draft being criticized by the media or fans about their smile or called a phony.  "He's being held to different standards from white quarterbacks. I thought we were past all this stuff about African-American quarterbacks, but I guess we're not."  Newton is projected as a likely first-round pick, and perhaps the first overall pick in the draft. He is often compared to Missouri QB Blaine Gabbert (who is white), but there is no consensus on who the best player in the draft field is.  ProFootballWeekly's Nolan Nawrocki released sharp criticisms of Newton in his annual draft preview recently, and that increased the attention paid to the Auburn product. Nawrocki, in listing Newton's potential negatives, wrote:  "Very disingenuous — has a fake smile, comes off as very scripted and has a selfish, me-first makeup. Always knows where the cameras are and plays to them. Has an enormous ego with a sense of entitlement that continually invites trouble and makes him believe he is above the law — does not command respect from teammates and always will struggle to win a locker room."  Moon told CBS that Newton is being unfairly "lumped in" with black quarterbacks such as JaMarcus Russell, the 2007 No. 1 overall pick who was cut by the Raiders last year.  "The thing that makes me laugh is the question of can (Newton) come out of the spread offense? Can he run a pro offense?" Moon said.  "Colt McCoy came out of the spread offense and very few people raised that issue about him. So did Sam Bradford. Same thing. Very few questions asking if Bradford could run a pro offense. Some of these questions about Cam are more about his intellect. It's blatant racism, some of it."  See photos of: NFL, Cam Newton  To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor  . For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to  . Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to
Warren Moon: Criticism of Cam Newton is 'blatant racism' - The Huddle: Football News from the NFL - USATODAY.com