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Cam Newton can learn from the fate of Donovan McNabb

PHILADELPHIA -- With everyone taking sides on Cam Newton's Super Bowl performance -- on the field and in the postgame news conference -- one tempting conclusion is that Newton will get plenty of opportunities to win a championship.

The counterargument: Donovan McNabb.

There are some obvious parallels between the two men. When McNabb was taken with the second pick in the 1999 draft, he was the highest-drafted African-American quarterback in NFL history. Michael Vick passed him a year later, being taken first overall. Newton was taken first overall in 2011.

Last week, when Newton talked about the impact of race on perceptions of him, it wasn’t hard to recognize what he was talking about.