Gauging the confidence levels of 6 new starting quarterbacks

#4 Kyle Allen – Still under observation

With tough performances against some of the top SEC schools and a lack of accountability inside the program, Allen decide to transfer to Houston with comments on the Johnny Manziel-intoxicated culture being the main culprit

This young man had the most unusual journey towards a starting position among this group. Landing at Texas A&M as the number one quarterback recruit in the country ahead of guys like Deshaun Watson, Allen took over for the Aggies by mid-season of 2014 as a true freshman and showed some promise with four-touchdown winning performances at Auburn and against West Virginia in their bowl game.

With tough performances against some of the top SEC schools and a lack of accountability inside the program, Allen decide to transfer to Houston with comments on the Johnny Manziel-intoxicated culture being the main culprit.

After sitting out a year, head coach Tom Herman left the program for the Texas job and Allen was squeezed into a system that relied around running their quarterback and not allowing him to show what he can do with his arm.

He was benched due to tossing those interceptions in three games and decided to forego his final year of eligibility. After working out with QB guru Jordan Palmer and showing progress in the pre-drafted Allen hoped that same time would take a chance on him, but he ended up not being selected and the Panthers picked him up as an undrafted free agent.

While Carolina invested a third-round pick in Will Grier back in April – a guy who I liked quite a bit – Allen had an excellent showing against a Saints team that sat some guys in week 17 last year and established himself as the number two guy behind Cam Newton.

In his first meaningful regular-season game in Arizona, the second-year QB was off the charts against a defense that wasn’t that bad through the first two weeks, even though the offense was sputtering at times.

He completed 19 of 26 passes for 261 yards and four touchdowns. The second-year man was highly accurate on the short and intermediate level. As most young quarterbacks do, Allen was looking for his tight-end and running back a lot, but he also pushed the ball outside the numbers and made some nice throw on the run, including two balls in the red-zone to Curtis Samuel as he was rolling towards his right and a nice loft ball to Greg Olsen in the end-zone as he was backing up.

His most impressive throw of the game, however, came from within the pocket, when he had a three-by-one set with Olsen in a tight split as the single receiver running a drag route, while the three receivers on the left ran a vertical concept with D.J. Moore on a deep in route, Allen correctly diagnosed the cover-two man and let the ball go just as Moore got into his break.

When you watch that play on the All-22 and pause it as the ball is midway, it looks like the defender carrying that seam of the number two guy would either have it hit him right in the back or turn around for an easy interception.

Instead, it was right there for the Panthers receiver to snag it just behind him and run across the field for the 52-yard score. I thought before the season started that this might be Cam’s last year because of all the hits he has taken throughout his career and not being able to get into a consistent rhythm since his MVP campaign.

Cam is already ruled out for week four and if Allen continues to keep this going, a decision will have to be made after what we saw in the Tampa Bay game where Newton badly missed some wide-open targets.