Cam Newton was the No. 1 quarterback last year, putting up some historic numbers. Most notably 35 touchdown passes and 10 touchdown runs. But it’s not easy for quarterbacks to stay on top.
Take the last 20 quarterbacks, for example, who finished No. 1 in a season. Of those group, 40 percent the next year didn’t even rank in the top 12. That’s almost half. That includes 2011 Peyton Manning and 2008 Tom Brady, who started a combined one game. And 2005 Daunte Culpepper and 2015 Andrew Luck also got hurt. But that’s one of the ways things can go south.
Of this group of 20, five of them – 25 percent – stayed in the top spot. Another six finished either 2nd or 3rd.
If Newton can stay healthy, most likely he’ll be a top-3 quarterback. But it’s a long season, and you have to see how things unfold along the way.
| NUMBER ONE QUARTERBACKS -- THE NEXT YEAR | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Pass | TD | Run | TDR | Points | Place |
| 1995 | Steve Young | 3,200 | 20 | 250 | 3 | 283 | 10 |
| 1996 | Brett Favre | 3,899 | 39 | 136 | 2 | 381 | 1 |
| 1997 | Brett Favre | 3,867 | 35 | 187 | 1 | 360 | 1 |
| 1998 | Brett Favre | 4,212 | 31 | 133 | 1 | 356 | 2 |
| 1999 | Steve Young | 446 | 3 | 57 | 0 | 40 | 42 |
| 2000 | Kurt Warner | 3,429 | 21 | 17 | 0 | 261 | 13 |
| 2001 | Daunte Culpepper | 2,612 | 14 | 416 | 5 | 264 | 15 |
| 2002 | Kurt Warner | 1,431 | 3 | 33 | 0 | 87 | 33 |
| 2003 | Daunte Culpepper | 3,479 | 25 | 422 | 4 | 342 | 1 |
| 2004 | Daunte Culpepper | 4,717 | 39 | 406 | 2 | 450 | 1 |
| 2005 | Daunte Culpepper | 1,564 | 6 | 147 | 1 | 125 | 30 |
| 2006 | Carson Palmer | 4,035 | 28 | 37 | 0 | 317 | 6 |
| 2007 | Peyton Manning | 4,040 | 31 | -5 | 3 | 346 | 3 |
| 2008 | Tom Brady | 76 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 54 |
| 2009 | Drew Brees | 4,388 | 34 | 33 | 2 | 371 | 2 |
| 2010 | Aaron Rodgers | 3,922 | 28 | 356 | 4 | 368 | 2 |
| 2011 | Peyton Manning | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- |
| 2012 | Drew Brees | 5,177 | 43 | 5 | 1 | 437 | 1 |
| 2013 | Drew Brees | 5,162 | 39 | 52 | 3 | 437 | 2 |
| 2014 | Peyton Manning | 4,727 | 39 | -24 | 0 | 394 | 3 |
| 2015 | Andrew Luck | 1,881 | 15 | 196 | 0 | 176 | 23 |
| 2016 | Cam Newton | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
—Ian Allan