The Top 100 highlights
My sixth selection for the Top 100 highlight series from the 50-41 group is
Cam Newton
Last year Cam Newton made a lot of Fantasy Managers happy for missing their chance to draft him. He made Fantasy Football analysts like me look like geniuses for telling you to take a pass on him. He flat out lost Fantasy Managers that drafted him any chance of winning their Fantasy league. He followed up his MVP year with what most people would consider a relatively poor season. 24 touchdowns with 14 interceptions is poor by any standard. Matt Stafford wiped the floor with him in Fantasy last year. You could probably have drafted Stafford 6 rounds after Newton in last year’s draft.
There’s no disputing Cam Newton’s skill, and athletic ability. Last season he was far from being the Superman he claims to be though. After watching Von Miller toss him around in Superbowl 50. I expected a bit of a Superbowl hangover. I warned people that drafting him based on his MVP year stats was a mistake. I predicted 4000 total yards, with 29 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. In other words I actually thought he would have a better year than he ended up with. Most people thought my predictions were somewhat harsh. In the end I was being generous.
So where does it leave us this season?
First of all there won’t be anyone except the most die hard Panthers fan eagerly waiting to draft Cam Newton in the first or second round. Realistically there are at least seven Quarterbacks that will probably get drafted before Cam Newton. Should you be the Fantasy Manager that picks him as the eighth QB off the board?
Damn right you should!
Carolina is about to steal a page out of the New England Patriots playbook. Carolina is looking to become an up tempo offence. Tom Brady, and Cam Newton have something in common. They are both ineffective when they get hit. It disrupts their timing, and effects their decision making process on future throws in the game. New England successfully minimized this weakness by creating an offence full of quick slants, quick outs, swing passes to the Running Backs, and a balanced Attack. With the talents of Kelvin Behjamin, Devin Funchess, Johnathan Stewart, Greg Olsen, and Rookies Christian McCaffrey and Curtis Samuel on the roster. The Carolina Panthers have the necessary pieces to create a quick strike offence. Cam Newton is by no means guaranteed to thrive in a system that suits Tom Brady. Then again he adds an additional dimension that Tom Brady won’t ever have. Cam Newton has proven that he is a formidable threat in the running game. Now don’t expect him to run for 10 touchdowns in a season again. That’s probably never going to happen. Keeping Cam Newton healthy is just too important to the Carolina Panthers to provide him with enough opportunities to find the end zone that many times. Another 5 rushing touchdowns isn’t out of the question though. Do you know how many times Tom Brady has rushed for 5 touchdowns in a season? The answer is never. Carolina used to rely on it’s Defence to grind out victories against their division rivals. Those days are over. They face some of the highest scoring Offences in their division. If they want to win the NFC South they will need to score a lot of points. Whether they are able to become an offensive force begins and ends with Cam Newton. I expect his touchdown numbers to improve over last year. I expect his passing yards to be much closer to his 2015 total. Add another season of at least 300 yards rushing, and you have the makings of a top ten Quarterback.
If I am projecting him to just squeak his way into the top 10. Then why am I encouraging you to draft him as the eighth Quarterback off the board? Why not wait to try and draft an undervalued QB that’s overlooked later? It’s all about his potential. Don’t forget he’s only one season removed from being the MVP. Cam Newton’s ceiling is ridiculously high. He is the NFL’s Superman when he wants to be.
