This is the third installment of my 2011 rookie review series. It has been a season filled with great performances in regards to many of the rookie quarterbacks and mostly disappointments from the rookie tight ends. After 15 weeks, this is as good of a time as any to find out what we learned so far. Enjoy!
Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers
2011 stats through Week 15: 283-475-3,722 yards passing, 17 TDs, 16 interceptions, 114 attempts for 609 rushing yards and 13 rushing TDs
Current role: Starter (4th ranked quarterback in leagues that equal passing/rushing TDs the same)
2012 expectations: In my twenty plus years playing fantasy football and forty odd years watching football, I am hard pressed to find many other football players that wanted to win as badly as Cam Newton. Sure guys like Peyton Manning and Brett Favre come to mind, but this is a rookie who everyone, including myself, doubted as a sure-fire quarterback. Now the real question is: how good is he? I am willing to put him in the top six or seven dynasty quarterbacks. Now some may say, hey “dynasty expert”, Newton is a top four quarterback this year, so he can only get better.
Newton can get better, but looking at his surrounding teammates I’m not so sure that his team is built for his long-term success. Newton has two dynamic receiving threats in Steve Smith and Greg Olsen, then below average or aging talent in Brandon LaFell, Legedu Naanee, and Jeremy Shockey. Yes, he has good running backs in DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. Unfortunately, the three of them (Newton, D-Will, and J-Stew) cancel each other’s rushing skills out. For the rest of the story: http://www.fantasyalarm.com/rookie-qbs-and-tes-a-year-in-review/
