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Cam Newton

Ron Rivera says Newton's shoulder not a concern

I have interest in Cam Newton. If he’s right physically, I’m pretty confident he’ll be a top-10 quarterback.

Newton underwent shoulder surgery and isn’t throwing right now. There’s no official time table on when he’ll be back. A little gas even got poured on this flame when the Panthers used a third-round pick on Will Grier out of West Virginia.

But Ron Rivera says he’s not concerned about Newton. “It’s a really big not that big of a deal,” Rivera said. “With the exception of throwing the ball physically, he does everything else.”

Assuming Newton is fine, I would have him as one of the first 10 quarterbacks on my board. There are a lot of good ones, of course, so I would have Newton down in the 10 spot, ahead of some other good options. As it becomes more clear that Newton’s health isn’t an issue, I might raise him up a spot or two (I think he has more upside than Drew Brees).

I liked the work Norv Turner did with the Carolina offense last year, and they’ve got a good, up-and-coming pair of wide receivers. Instead of going with big, slow guys, they got smaller and faster.

And there’s the running. Newton doesn’t run like he did in the past, but he’ll juice up his value in that regard.

For 2018, Newton finished with the 7th-best quarterbacking numbers among those who started at least half the season.

QUARTERBACKS: PER-GAME PRODUCTION
PlayerStPassTDPRunTDRPoints
Patrick Mahomes, K.C.163193.1317.1331.0
Ben Roethlisberger, Pitt.163212.136.1926.8
Matt Ryan, Atl.163082.198.2526.7
Jameis Winston, T.B.92941.7829.1125.4
Andrew Luck, Ind.162872.449.0025.3
Deshaun Watson, Hou.162601.6334.3124.8
Cam Newton, Car.142431.7135.2924.5
Jared Goff, LAR162932.007.1324.5
Drew Brees, N.O.152662.131.2723.7
Mitchell Trubisky, Chi.142301.7130.2123.2
Baker Mayfield, Clev.132712.0810.0023.0
Aaron Rodgers, G.B.162781.5617.1322.9
Josh Allen, Buff.11182.9155.7322.8
Carson Wentz, Phil.112791.918.0022.6
Kirk Cousins, Min.162691.888.0622.5
Dak Prescott, Dall.162431.3819.3822.0
Philip Rivers, LAC162692.000.0022.0
Russell Wilson, Sea.162162.1924.0022.0
Tom Brady, N.E.162721.812.1321.8
Nick Mullens, S.F.82851.63-2.0020.8
Andy Dalton, Cin.112331.919.0020.2
Eli Manning, NYG162691.311.0619.6
Joe Flacco, Balt.92741.335.0019.5
Blake Bortles, Jac.122231.0828.0818.8
Derek Carr, Oak.162531.193.0618.2
Case Keenum, Den.162431.136.1318.0
Sam Darnold, NYJ132201.3111.0817.8
Matthew Stafford, Det.162361.314.0017.5
Alex Smith, Wash.102181.0017.1017.2
Ryan Tannehill, Mia.111801.5513.0917.0
Marcus Mariota, Ten.13187.8524.1516.0
Josh Rosen, Ariz.13172.8510.0013.1

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index