![]() His post Super Bowl press conference conveyed a lack of professionalism and maturity, as did his sexist comments directed at a female reporter this season. Perhaps it is a positive one.īut as far as optics go, Newton doesn’t always project the image of a strong locker-room leader. As someone who’s not around the Panthers on a day-to-day basis, it’s virtually impossible to gauge the locker-room impact Newton has. ![]() Intangibles and leadership are two additional areas where Newton appears to fall short. If Alex Smith were the Panthers’ QB, it’s hard to imagine them doing much worse. They made the playoffs in each of those four seasons. Carolina’s D has finished top 10 in yards allowed in four of the past five seasons, including a seventh-place finish this season. Newton may be the face of the franchise, but it’s the defense that has turned the Panthers into a perennial NFC powerhouse. And people still think he’s an elite quarterback. I’ll repeat that one more time for the people in the back: The Panthers have been in the bottom half of the league offensively four times in Newton’s seven seasons. That was one of just three occasions the Panthers finished in the top half of the league in total offense. Under Newton, the Panthers have been a top 10 offensive team just once: When Cam was a rookie in 2011. They were 28th in passing and fourth in rushing this year. The Panthers were 19th in total offense this season-which is exactly where they ranked last season. This part of Cam’s game can obviously not be discounted. He also had the fourth-most expected points added through rushes among QBs this year. This is not without merit Newton rushed for a career-high 754 yards this season. Now, Newton defenders may admit that while Cam isn’t the best passer, he more than makes up for it in his dual-threat prowess. Newton’s Total QBR of 48.0-which includes rushing stats-was 19th in the NFL this year, lower than Blake Bortles, Marcus Mariota, and Josh McCown. Newton has finished top 10 in Total QBR just once (2014) and finished as low as 25th last season-when he was beat out by Brock Osweiler, among several scrubs. He’s completed 60 percent of his throws just twice since entering the league. Most of Newton’s numbers this year are pretty much in line with his career stats: His lifetime completion percentage of 58.5 also doesn’t instill confidence in his ability to make precision throws. These are not names you want to be on a list with, to say the least. Only Kizer, Siemian, and Brett Hundley had a higher percentage of their throws go for INT’s than Newton. ![]() He was second to only DeShone Kizer in interceptions thrown, and has the fourth-highest interception percentage in the NFL. Bethard, and DeShone Kizer were the only four quarterbacks less accurate than Newton this year. This season, Newton was 18th in passing yards, 22nd in yards per attempt, and 28th in completion percentage. Consider these numbers before hitting that “X” on the corner of your screen: Just another hot-takes guy looking for clicks with an absurd opinion, right? Based on many metrics and categories, Carter is right: Cam is nothing more than an average NFL quarterback. That seems more than average to the average fan.īut when looking past the hype and the endorsements and focusing on the numbers, it’s pretty clear Newton is far less of a star than you might think. Newton is a former MVP, one of the most handsomely endorsed athletes in the country and has taken the Panthers to the playoffs in four of the last five years-including a trip to Super Bowl 50. It was the kind of hot take you’d expect from an FS1 host. When I first heard this, it sounded kind of ridiculous. Cris Carter said that Cam Newton was nothing more than an average quarterback last week on his show “First Things First.” He cited a few statistics in making his case, and said it’s time to stop making excuses for the seven-year vet’s shortcomings. ![]()
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