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QB Cam Newton, Retired (4 Viewers)

Rotoworld:

GM Dave Gettleman said the Panthers will continue to encourage Cam Newton to run with the football.

The Panthers just gave Newton a $118 million contract with $60 million guaranteed. But they know they won't get a return on that investment unless he uses his unique athletic skill set to make plays. "He’s got to be Cam. You don’t hold back a thoroughbred, you don’t," Gettleman said. Once Newton got healthy late last year, he started piling up the rushing stats once again. Over his final six games (including playoffs), he averaged 9.5 carries for 53.0 yards and 0.5 TDs.

Source: Charlotte Observer
Jun 22 - 8:20 AM
 
Kelvin Benjamin with the blown ACL. Have Cam as a potential keeper and trying to figure out how to value him now - can Cam recreate the rookie year magic with Funchess?

 
As I lay out different redraft strategies for auction and snake Cam was moving up my board and looking more and more like a good option. Now I don't like him at all. I play 6 pt passing TD so he doesnt have added relative rush TD value.

Not relying on Cam every week with a rookie being his best WR option 2 years in a row.

 
Redraft Cam in now demoted to the late-ish "pick 'em" tier with Matt Ryan, Eli, Rivers, and company. No way should he be in the top 5-6 discussion at this point.

 
How is this any different from Cam's situation the first few years of his career? I'm thinking of 2013 in particular, pre-KB and SSmith's last year in Carolina (when he was absolutely brutal). Cam still put up Top 5 numbers.

 
How is this any different from Cam's situation the first few years of his career? I'm thinking of 2013 in particular, pre-KB and SSmith's last year in Carolina (when he was absolutely brutal). Cam still put up Top 5 numbers.
Not a bad point. Cam was top 5 with Olsen (816/6) as his leading receiver and Cam's rushing stats were similar to last year. Line was probably better in 2013.

 
How is this any different from Cam's situation the first few years of his career? I'm thinking of 2013 in particular, pre-KB and SSmith's last year in Carolina (when he was absolutely brutal). Cam still put up Top 5 numbers.
He can be top 5 if he just stays healthy. With KB, he could have been #3.

 
How is this any different from Cam's situation the first few years of his career? I'm thinking of 2013 in particular, pre-KB and SSmith's last year in Carolina (when he was absolutely brutal). Cam still put up Top 5 numbers.
I think we throw out top 5 a little too loosely sometimes. In my leagues Cam finished 6th overall in 2013 but was 9th in PPG. My leagues are 6 pt passing TD and also awards and subtracts fractional points for completions/incompletions so Cam has even less value b/c of all TDs being equal and being a lower volume passer.

Even in "standard" leagues though saying Cam was top 5 in 2013 doesnt tell the whole picture. His PPG in 2013 was almost exactly what it was last season when he was 8th in PPG and largely considered a disappointment. His PPG in 2014 and 2013 was down 2 from 2012 and 5 pts from 2011.

QBs tend to rush less as they move through their careers and while Cam obviously still figures to have value there I don't think its enough to make up for the lack of passing numbers, especially in my leagues. The loss of Benjamin is huge IMO. Even with Steve Smith's down year in 2013 at least defenses had to respect his presence. Without Benjamin Cam is just not a QB I want to rely on as a weekly starter. Too many other guys at that price point that I trust to put up better and more consistent numbers.

 
How is this any different from Cam's situation the first few years of his career? I'm thinking of 2013 in particular, pre-KB and SSmith's last year in Carolina (when he was absolutely brutal). Cam still put up Top 5 numbers.
I think we throw out top 5 a little too loosely sometimes. In my leagues Cam finished 6th overall in 2013 but was 9th in PPG. My leagues are 6 pt passing TD and also awards and subtracts fractional points for completions/incompletions so Cam has even less value b/c of all TDs being equal and being a lower volume passer.

Even in "standard" leagues though saying Cam was top 5 in 2013 doesnt tell the whole picture. His PPG in 2013 was almost exactly what it was last season when he was 8th in PPG and largely considered a disappointment. His PPG in 2014 and 2013 was down 2 from 2012 and 5 pts from 2011.

QBs tend to rush less as they move through their careers and while Cam obviously still figures to have value there I don't think its enough to make up for the lack of passing numbers, especially in my leagues. The loss of Benjamin is huge IMO. Even with Steve Smith's down year in 2013 at least defenses had to respect his presence. Without Benjamin Cam is just not a QB I want to rely on as a weekly starter. Too many other guys at that price point that I trust to put up better and more consistent numbers.
Care to name names for those "too many guys"?

 
How is this any different from Cam's situation the first few years of his career? I'm thinking of 2013 in particular, pre-KB and SSmith's last year in Carolina (when he was absolutely brutal). Cam still put up Top 5 numbers.
He can be top 5 if he just stays healthy. With KB, he could have been #3.
Wasn't he top TWO his rookie year before he had Benjamin?

Personally, I see it both ways. I don't want him running and doing the things that made him fantasy gold that first year or so but I DO see the potential that this shouldn't be moving his place in line at all. Plus, we are sitting here drawing this conclusion just outright ASSUMMING that he won't have a great year without Benjamin. As little as a year ago, we had doubts on Benjamin as a rookie and pondered what life was going to be without SMith just before that. For all we know, he and Funchess or somebody might replicate what he has done already.

 
How is this any different from Cam's situation the first few years of his career? I'm thinking of 2013 in particular, pre-KB and SSmith's last year in Carolina (when he was absolutely brutal). Cam still put up Top 5 numbers.
I think we throw out top 5 a little too loosely sometimes. In my leagues Cam finished 6th overall in 2013 but was 9th in PPG. My leagues are 6 pt passing TD and also awards and subtracts fractional points for completions/incompletions so Cam has even less value b/c of all TDs being equal and being a lower volume passer.

Even in "standard" leagues though saying Cam was top 5 in 2013 doesnt tell the whole picture. His PPG in 2013 was almost exactly what it was last season when he was 8th in PPG and largely considered a disappointment. His PPG in 2014 and 2013 was down 2 from 2012 and 5 pts from 2011.

QBs tend to rush less as they move through their careers and while Cam obviously still figures to have value there I don't think its enough to make up for the lack of passing numbers, especially in my leagues. The loss of Benjamin is huge IMO. Even with Steve Smith's down year in 2013 at least defenses had to respect his presence. Without Benjamin Cam is just not a QB I want to rely on as a weekly starter. Too many other guys at that price point that I trust to put up better and more consistent numbers.
I also play in 6 pt passing TD leagues and Cam's decrease in PPG was significant (-1.4). It dropped him from 7th all the way to 15th. But his rushing stats were almost identical.

The main difference between 2013 and 2014 was passing TDs. It was his fewest since coming in the league. This was with Benjamin.

The funny thing is, his 2012 stats were significantly better than 2013 and he only threw one more TD than last year (5 less than 2013). How did he make up the points? Running the ball. This is something Cam has over most QBs in the league and the Panthers have publicly stated he won't be limited even after signing the big contract. It's also something he will surely do to make up for the loss of Benjamin.

 
How is this any different from Cam's situation the first few years of his career? I'm thinking of 2013 in particular, pre-KB and SSmith's last year in Carolina (when he was absolutely brutal). Cam still put up Top 5 numbers.
He can be top 5 if he just stays healthy. With KB, he could have been #3.
Wasn't he top TWO his rookie year before he had Benjamin?

Personally, I see it both ways. I don't want him running and doing the things that made him fantasy gold that first year or so but I DO see the potential that this shouldn't be moving his place in line at all. Plus, we are sitting here drawing this conclusion just outright ASSUMMING that he won't have a great year without Benjamin. As little as a year ago, we had doubts on Benjamin as a rookie and pondered what life was going to be without SMith just before that. For all we know, he and Funchess or somebody might replicate what he has done already.
Biggest reason I would argue is I can't see his rushing ydg/TD's ever being what it was his first two years. His rushing numbers dropped almost 200 yds the past 2 years in a row. More due to teams scheming against it, and partly just a natural progression away from it. As for Funchess, I won't say never, but I would heavily hedge against Funchess replicating the role Benjamin had. The comps just don't align favorably for Funchess, both physically and his skill set.

With Benjamin's injury I can make a much stronger argument for Cam to finish outside the top 12, then to outperform his ADP. If I were looking for a QB in his tier, I see a safer floor and more potential out of the likes of Eli, Rivers, or Tanny who cost the same as Cam. I even thought about the possibility of garbage points, but Cam does not handle losing very well, and his history pegs him to shut down if a game is out of hand.

 
How is this any different from Cam's situation the first few years of his career? I'm thinking of 2013 in particular, pre-KB and SSmith's last year in Carolina (when he was absolutely brutal). Cam still put up Top 5 numbers.
He can be top 5 if he just stays healthy. With KB, he could have been #3.
Wasn't he top TWO his rookie year before he had Benjamin?

Personally, I see it both ways. I don't want him running and doing the things that made him fantasy gold that first year or so but I DO see the potential that this shouldn't be moving his place in line at all. Plus, we are sitting here drawing this conclusion just outright ASSUMMING that he won't have a great year without Benjamin. As little as a year ago, we had doubts on Benjamin as a rookie and pondered what life was going to be without SMith just before that. For all we know, he and Funchess or somebody might replicate what he has done already.
Biggest reason I would argue is I can't see his rushing ydg/TD's ever being what it was his first two years. His rushing numbers dropped almost 200 yds the past 2 years in a row. More due to teams scheming against it, and partly just a natural progression away from it. As for Funchess, I won't say never, but I would heavily hedge against Funchess replicating the role Benjamin had. The comps just don't align favorably for Funchess, both physically and his skill set.

With Benjamin's injury I can make a much stronger argument for Cam to finish outside the top 12, then to outperform his ADP. If I were looking for a QB in his tier, I see a safer floor and more potential out of the likes of Eli, Rivers, or Tanny who cost the same as Cam. I even thought about the possibility of garbage points, but Cam does not handle losing very well, and his history pegs him to shut down if a game is out of hand.
It's easy to say look elsewhere now but some of us already drafted him prior to Benjamin's injury and are deciding whether or not we should look to the waiver wire or trade for better options.

 
How is this any different from Cam's situation the first few years of his career? I'm thinking of 2013 in particular, pre-KB and SSmith's last year in Carolina (when he was absolutely brutal). Cam still put up Top 5 numbers.
He can be top 5 if he just stays healthy. With KB, he could have been #3.
Wasn't he top TWO his rookie year before he had Benjamin?

Personally, I see it both ways. I don't want him running and doing the things that made him fantasy gold that first year or so but I DO see the potential that this shouldn't be moving his place in line at all. Plus, we are sitting here drawing this conclusion just outright ASSUMMING that he won't have a great year without Benjamin. As little as a year ago, we had doubts on Benjamin as a rookie and pondered what life was going to be without SMith just before that. For all we know, he and Funchess or somebody might replicate what he has done already.
Biggest reason I would argue is I can't see his rushing ydg/TD's ever being what it was his first two years. His rushing numbers dropped almost 200 yds the past 2 years in a row. More due to teams scheming against it, and partly just a natural progression away from it. As for Funchess, I won't say never, but I would heavily hedge against Funchess replicating the role Benjamin had. The comps just don't align favorably for Funchess, both physically and his skill set.

With Benjamin's injury I can make a much stronger argument for Cam to finish outside the top 12, then to outperform his ADP. If I were looking for a QB in his tier, I see a safer floor and more potential out of the likes of Eli, Rivers, or Tanny who cost the same as Cam. I even thought about the possibility of garbage points, but Cam does not handle losing very well, and his history pegs him to shut down if a game is out of hand.
It's easy to say look elsewhere now but some of us already drafted him prior to Benjamin's injury and are deciding whether or not we should look to the waiver wire or trade for better options.
- Even with KB, would anyone bet, even if given good odds, that he'd score better ppg than Luck or Rodgers?

To the last point, yep. Looking like I might start Flacco.

 
How is this any different from Cam's situation the first few years of his career? I'm thinking of 2013 in particular, pre-KB and SSmith's last year in Carolina (when he was absolutely brutal). Cam still put up Top 5 numbers.
I agree. Cam wasn't that great last year with Benjamin. He was QB #17 in FFPC. The reason I was kind of high on Newton this year and still have hope was the fact that he is reportedly healthy and the GM quote where he said he expects Newton to run more. The Benjamin injury, if anything, means Newton truly needs to put the game on his shoulders. I expect him to run even more now.

Dave Gettleman quote from June:

“No. He’s got to be Cam. You don’t hold back a thoroughbred, you don’t. I don’t know if you watched the Belmont. When [American] Pharoah came around that backstretch and that horse was nipping at his heels, the jockey let him go. He didn’t whip him. He’s just, ‘Go baby!’ And that’s what a thoroughbred does. You don’t change their game. … You can’t do it.”

 
I am in the minority thinking that Benjamin out hurts the Panthers a lot more than it hurts Newton's fantasy production. He will add rushing yards to replace the missing over-the-air production. His receiver corps won't improve, yet he has grown smart enough not to throw hopeless balls to covered receivers. I've watched Carolina and Newton enough in the last two years to know that Newton is just too competitive. He won't sit there and take the sits or hand off 40 times / game.

So, more often than before, he will resort to tucking it and taking off in an attempt to make a play.

 
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ourmanflint said:
How is this any different from Cam's situation the first few years of his career? I'm thinking of 2013 in particular, pre-KB and SSmith's last year in Carolina (when he was absolutely brutal). Cam still put up Top 5 numbers.
He can be top 5 if he just stays healthy. With KB, he could have been #3.
Wasn't he top TWO his rookie year before he had Benjamin? Personally, I see it both ways. I don't want him running and doing the things that made him fantasy gold that first year or so but I DO see the potential that this shouldn't be moving his place in line at all. Plus, we are sitting here drawing this conclusion just outright ASSUMMING that he won't have a great year without Benjamin. As little as a year ago, we had doubts on Benjamin as a rookie and pondered what life was going to be without SMith just before that. For all we know, he and Funchess or somebody might replicate what he has done already.
Biggest reason I would argue is I can't see his rushing ydg/TD's ever being what it was his first two years. His rushing numbers dropped almost 200 yds the past 2 years in a row. More due to teams scheming against it, and partly just a natural progression away from it. As for Funchess, I won't say never, but I would heavily hedge against Funchess replicating the role Benjamin had. The comps just don't align favorably for Funchess, both physically and his skill set.With Benjamin's injury I can make a much stronger argument for Cam to finish outside the top 12, then to outperform his ADP. If I were looking for a QB in his tier, I see a safer floor and more potential out of the likes of Eli, Rivers, or Tanny who cost the same as Cam. I even thought about the possibility of garbage points, but Cam does not handle losing very well, and his history pegs him to shut down if a game is out of hand.
It's easy to say look elsewhere now but some of us already drafted him prior to Benjamin's injury and are deciding whether or not we should look to the waiver wire or trade for better options.
But this is my point. The guys I listed should be available trade options relative to Cams current ADP
 
I am in the minority thinking that Benjamin out hurts the Panthers a lot more than it hurts Newton's fantasy production. He will add rushing yards to replace the missing over-the-air production. His receiver corps won't improve, yet he has grown smart enough not to throw hopeless balls to covered receivers. I've watched Carolina and Newton enough in the last two years to know that Newton is just too competitive. He won't sit there and take the sits or hand off 40 times / game.

So, more often than before, he will resort to tucking it and taking off in an attempt to make a play.
Don't you think teams scheme against him for the run now? LBs shadowing him, etc. You can try to chalk up last year to the team holding him back, but his numbers were down the year before too. Teams are not scared of getting beat by his passing, and this will be even more so with no Benjamin. I don't think he ever comes close to the 700 yds rushing like his first couple years even WITH designed runs.

 
I am in the minority thinking that Benjamin out hurts the Panthers a lot more than it hurts Newton's fantasy production. He will add rushing yards to replace the missing over-the-air production. His receiver corps won't improve, yet he has grown smart enough not to throw hopeless balls to covered receivers. I've watched Carolina and Newton enough in the last two years to know that Newton is just too competitive. He won't sit there and take the sits or hand off 40 times / game.

So, more often than before, he will resort to tucking it and taking off in an attempt to make a play.
Don't you think teams scheme against him for the run now? LBs shadowing him, etc. You can try to chalk up last year to the team holding him back, but his numbers were down the year before too. Teams are not scared of getting beat by his passing, and this will be even more so with no Benjamin. I don't think he ever comes close to the 700 yds rushing like his first couple years even WITH designed runs.
One could easily make the argument that his rushing stats could have actually gone up significantly last year. His stats were near identical to his 2013 rushing stats even though he missed 2 full games and was noticeably limited in several more due to various injuries.

 
I am in the minority thinking that Benjamin out hurts the Panthers a lot more than it hurts Newton's fantasy production. He will add rushing yards to replace the missing over-the-air production. His receiver corps won't improve, yet he has grown smart enough not to throw hopeless balls to covered receivers. I've watched Carolina and Newton enough in the last two years to know that Newton is just too competitive. He won't sit there and take the sits or hand off 40 times / game.

So, more often than before, he will resort to tucking it and taking off in an attempt to make a play.
Don't you think teams scheme against him for the run now? LBs shadowing him, etc. You can try to chalk up last year to the team holding him back, but his numbers were down the year before too. Teams are not scared of getting beat by his passing, and this will be even more so with no Benjamin. I don't think he ever comes close to the 700 yds rushing like his first couple years even WITH designed runs.
One could easily make the argument that his rushing stats could have actually gone up significantly last year. His stats were near identical to his 2013 rushing stats even though he missed 2 full games and was noticeably limited in several more due to various injuries.
I wasn't saying he couldn't have beat his 2013 numbers. I was saying I would like to hear an argument of how he gets back to his 2011 and 2012 rushing yds of 700.
 
I am in the minority thinking that Benjamin out hurts the Panthers a lot more than it hurts Newton's fantasy production. He will add rushing yards to replace the missing over-the-air production. His receiver corps won't improve, yet he has grown smart enough not to throw hopeless balls to covered receivers. I've watched Carolina and Newton enough in the last two years to know that Newton is just too competitive. He won't sit there and take the sits or hand off 40 times / game.

So, more often than before, he will resort to tucking it and taking off in an attempt to make a play.
Don't you think teams scheme against him for the run now? LBs shadowing him, etc. You can try to chalk up last year to the team holding him back, but his numbers were down the year before too. Teams are not scared of getting beat by his passing, and this will be even more so with no Benjamin. I don't think he ever comes close to the 700 yds rushing like his first couple years even WITH designed runs.
One could easily make the argument that his rushing stats could have actually gone up significantly last year. His stats were near identical to his 2013 rushing stats even though he missed 2 full games and was noticeably limited in several more due to various injuries.
I wasn't saying he couldn't have beat his 2013 numbers. I was saying I would like to hear an argument of how he gets back to his 2011 and 2012 rushing yds of 700.
My argument would be this is the worst backfield he has ever had. May be among the worst in the entire league, and I even consider CAP as a possible sleeper.

 
My argument would be this is the worst backfield he has ever had. May be among the worst in the entire league, and I even consider CAP as a possible sleeper.

I think CAP can average at least the 3.5 YPC that Williams did last year.

 
My argument would be this is the worst backfield he has ever had. May be among the worst in the entire league, and I even consider CAP as a possible sleeper.
I think CAP can average at least the 3.5 YPC that Williams did last year.

True, but he won't be the all around player. In fact, if CAP is asked to pass block I suspect Cam rushing stats will go up. Listening to people talk about Tobert it's obvious they don't know what he is NOW. Listening to people talk about Whittacker/Todman they don't know who they have alread proven to be.

Essentially the run game rests on Stewart and he hasn't been able to handle 33% of it in the past before breaking down.

 
I am in the minority thinking that Benjamin out hurts the Panthers a lot more than it hurts Newton's fantasy production. He will add rushing yards to replace the missing over-the-air production. His receiver corps won't improve, yet he has grown smart enough not to throw hopeless balls to covered receivers. I've watched Carolina and Newton enough in the last two years to know that Newton is just too competitive. He won't sit there and take the sits or hand off 40 times / game.

So, more often than before, he will resort to tucking it and taking off in an attempt to make a play.
Don't you think teams scheme against him for the run now? LBs shadowing him, etc. You can try to chalk up last year to the team holding him back, but his numbers were down the year before too. Teams are not scared of getting beat by his passing, and this will be even more so with no Benjamin. I don't think he ever comes close to the 700 yds rushing like his first couple years even WITH designed runs.
One could easily make the argument that his rushing stats could have actually gone up significantly last year. His stats were near identical to his 2013 rushing stats even though he missed 2 full games and was noticeably limited in several more due to various injuries.
I wasn't saying he couldn't have beat his 2013 numbers. I was saying I would like to hear an argument of how he gets back to his 2011 and 2012 rushing yds of 700.
If you throw out his first 4 games last year (when he was hobbled), Newton had 569 rushing yards in the other 12 games (including the 2 playoff games). That is on pace for 759 yards per 16 games.

He probably won't reach that number this year, but it's not like it would take some sort of drastic change.

 
I don't know how much of his reduced rushing is the team holding him back vs. him learning to trust his passing game more - and hence staying put longer. I think this is now likely to change, but I do admit I just read an interesting opinion suggesting even more garbage time stats to come + FG attempts. Unless Funchess steps up big-time, I still find it more likely Newton reverts closer to rookie-year mentality.

And, sure, teams will scheme about QB runs more. They did so in previous years as well, but looking at the year-on-year averages, how did that work out? Those spying schemes are always aimed to contain the big play, not the 5-yarder.

If I had to bet, I would say we see small increase in the number of rushes / game and a small decrease in ypc, which is already not very high. So up to 8-9 / game at 5-5.5 clip. If Newton is healthy for 16 games, don't think the 700 rushing yards is a stretch target at all. Repeating 5 rushing TDs from last year also seems realistic. He does lose some air production, but there wasn't that much to begin with. He gains a little extra ground game production, which depending on your league's scoring brings him in the QB10 range. I find that fair in redraft, but admittedly I never bought the hype of Newton as a top-4/5 redraft QB.

 
Cam is pretty much undraftable at this point, other than a low end QB2 in start 2 QB leagues.

 
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I just gotta say this guy gets no respect. Sure he fires the ball too much and has not touch on his passes. He will never be a high completion % guy but man he has NOBODY to throw to and just makes the plays to win the game. He can be the QB on my team any day.

 
I just gotta say this guy gets no respect. Sure he fires the ball too much and has not touch on his passes. He will never be a high completion % guy but man he has NOBODY to throw to and just makes the plays to win the game. He can be the QB on my team any day.
Cam has thrown some perfect pretty passes this season. He has also thrown some duds (usually too high), but I think he is doing a good job making due with what he has at wide receiver. His receivers have had a lot of drops, but they improved from game 1 to game 2, so hopefully they will keep building on that. Cam has his wheels going again, and he will carry the offense as best as he can. I don't agree with GreenNGold that said Cam is undraftable, and a low end QB2 in start 2 QB leagues.

 
Cam is pretty much undraftable at this point, other than a low end QB2 in start 2 QB leagues.
I just saw this. LOL. What scoring system do you use?

Also LOL at the theory that Cam won't be forced to run more because of the poor receivers. Extrapolating from the last two games: 192 carries, 888 yards.

This dwarfes anything he has done before, including his first two years, averaging 126 carries, 725 yards.

 
Cam is pretty much undraftable at this point, other than a low end QB2 in start 2 QB leagues.
I just saw this. LOL. What scoring system do you use?

Also LOL at the theory that Cam won't be forced to run more because of the poor receivers. Extrapolating from the last two games: 192 carries, 888 yards.

This dwarfes anything he has done before, including his first two years, averaging 126 carries, 725 yards.
I could very well be wrong about Cam and still mad he burned me last year and still don't like his situation this year, but lol at extrapolating 2 game samples over an entire season. Do you think demarco murray is going to finish the season with 88 rushing yards?
 
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He's been top 5 qb in 3 of first 4 years. Last year you could easily attribute production dip to injury. This is the first year he has not had a #1 caliber wr so it will be interesting to see what he can do rest of season. But because of rushing he has a high floor each week

 

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