Fantasy Index

Factoid

Quarterbacks

Newton, Wilson hit more than other quarterbacks

Cam Newton and Russell Wilson have been durable, productive quarterbacks. Wilson has started 64 games in a row, while Newton has missed only two games in five years. But is it realistic to bank on these guys staying healthy? They both take a lot of punishment.

Newton and Wilson, in fact, have been hit a lot more often than any other quarterbacks in recent years. Over the past four years, they’ve both handled the ball around 600 times on runs and sacks. Only one other quarterback (Colin Kaepernick) is over 400 in the same time period.

QUARTERBACKS HIT 200+ times since 2012
RkPlayerSackRunTotal
1.Cam Newton150473623
2.Russell Wilson164411575
3.Colin Kaepernick135304439
4.Alex Smith153240393
5.Ryan Tannehill184177361
6.Robert Griffin III101244345
7.Andy Dalton116225341
8.Andrew Luck115222337
9.Aaron Rodgers146185331
10.Matthew Stafford141159300
11.Ryan Fitzpatrick91201292
12.Jay Cutler124141265
13.Philip Rivers155109264
14.Tom Brady126125251
15.Matt Ryan133117250
16.Joe Flacco118111229
17.Ben Roethlisberger125101226
18.Drew Brees123101224
19.Michael Vick72144216
20.Blake Bortles106108214
21.Geno Smith74133207

Both of these quarterbacks, of course, are unusual athletes. With Wilson’s quickness and smarts, he tends to avoid taking many big hits. But he’s a small guy, and he’s operating behind a lesser offensive line.

With Newton, he’s got unusual size and power for the position, but the same kind of things were once said about Daunte Culpepper, who was also a great power runner at that position about 10 years ago. Culpepper ended up shredding his knee, and he was never the same player afterwards.

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index