As far as I'm concerned, we have our franchise quarterback. His name is Cam Newton and he has pumped new life into the hearts of Cardiac Cats everywhere and has put our NFC South rivals and the rest of the NFL on notice. At this time last year, however, he was placed under intense scrutiny and many people projected he would be a bust. Now, one year later, we find ourselves with our franchise quarterback, two possibly expendable quarterbacks, and in search of a backup quarterback with a skill set and athletic ability like Cam Newton. One rumored quarterback we are looking at is Russell Wilson from NC State and Wisconsin. Going in the top 2 quarterbacks are projected to be Andrew Luck from Stanford and Robert Griffin III from Baylor. Results for all the quarterback skills of the 2012 NFL Combine....after the jump.

Forty Yard Dash

The first event was the 40-yard dash. Robert Griffin III showed his athletic skills by posting a 4.41 run and staking a claim to the coveted Number 1 draft spot. The other major quarterback of this years draft, Andrew Luck, ran the 40 in 4.67 seconds.

Our rumored pick for backup quarterback, Russell Wilson, had the second fastest quarterback time running the 40 in 4.55.

Bench Press

The next event was the bench press. Only two quarterbacks, Jordan Jefferson from LSU, and Darron Thomas from Oregon, took part in this event. Both quarterbacks had 14 reps with 225 pounds.

Vertical Jump

The top two rated quarterbacks continued to assert their dominance in the Vertical Jump event. R G 3 had the best vertical jump of the quarterback class with a vertical jump of 39 inches. Andrew Luck was tied for second with a 36 inch vertical jump.

Our potential backup came up a bit on the short side with a 34 inch vertical leap.

Broad Jump

Andrew Luck had an impressive broad jump,leaping an astounding 124 inches!! Robert Griffin III finished in second place in this event with a leap of 120 inches.

Our prospect for backup quarterback Russell Wilson had an impressive jump in spite of his short (by NFL Quarterback measure) 5'11 height, finishing 4th best with a jump of 118 inches.

3-Cone Drill

Of the two top quarterback contenders, only Andrew Luck participated in the 3-cone drill. He had the 3rd best time, behind Austin Davis from Southern Miss, and Chandler Harnish from Northern Illinois.

Carolina Panthers backup quarterback prospect Russell Wilson had the 5th fastest time in the 3-cone drill, posting a time of 6.97.

Twenty Yard Shuttle

In a surprise, RG3 also did not take part in the Twenty Yard Shuttle. Andrew Luck did participate in the Twenty Yard Shuttle, finishing with 4.28 seconds, tied for 5th overall.

Russell Wilson finished with the second fastest 20 shuttle time, finishing in 4.09 seconds.

Forty Yard Shuttle

None of the quarterbacks participated in the Forty Yard Shuttle drill.

Based off the times from his 40 yard dash and leaping drills, Robert Griffin III is the undisputed winner of the quarterbacks class for the 2012 NFL Draft. Both Griffin and Luck measured close to our very own Cam Newton in terms of sheer athleticism. In spite of RG3's dominance today, I still can't see him going 1st overall to the Colts. What I can see happening, however, is St Louis receiving a king's ransom of a trade from a team such as Washington, Cleveland, or even a dark horse like Jacksonville in need of a play-maker at quarterback.