Panthers quarterback Cam Newton has been
mentioned in the race for league MVP as his team
continues to win.
As the season has reached its halfway point, The Panthers remain one of the league's unbeaten teams at 7-0, and quarterback Cam Newton has been thrown into the MVP debate.
Certainly, Newton has improved since his rookie season from five years ago, but league MVP may be a conversation people are only including his name in because Carolina is still undefeated. When you hear various sports media personalities -- like ESPN First Take's Stephen A. Smith -- or people on social media praise Newton, the first qualifier that is cited is the team's record. The second is his ability to be an effective rusher.
Those are things that are factual, but for a league MVP there needs to be more, and Newton does not have enough to win that award right now unless he improves in these statistical categories:
No. 1 - Total QBR (not to be confused with passer rating)
Newton ranks 26th (46.9) in this category among qualified starting quarterbacks, but here are just a few of the quarterbacks ranked ahead of him: Ryan Fitzpatrick (78.4), Brian Hoyer (69.4), Blake Bortles (61.4), Kirk Cousins (58.8), Jameis Winston (58.7), and Colin Kaepernick (47.6) just to name a few. One could argue that Newton has incredible talent (and he does) over this list of quarterbacks ahead of him, but how can an MVP candidate be this bad in QBR? And on another note, only one game did Newton have a QBR over 50.0, and that was in week 3 (86.0).
(This statistic is one that uses an algorithm that configures how much a quarterback does or does not contribute towards points for their respective team in any given game. Having this low of a QBR in Newton's case is an indicator that he technically is not the one directly involved in scoring points on plays he throws and runs personally. Fortunately, it also factors in if he hands off the ball on plays that score points so in theory this number could actually be lower by removing that from the algorithm.)
No. 2 - Protecting the ball
As a quarterback, limiting turnovers is one of the most important responsibilities. Newton currently has 15 total touchdowns (including four rushing), but has turned the ball over 10 times (eight interceptions and two fumbles). Newton has the third highest interception percentage rate in the league (among quarterbacks with at least 200 pass attempts) with 3.70 percent of his pass attempts getting intercepted -- only Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck have a higher percentage rates.
No. 3 - The overall passing game
Newton leads a Carolina passing game ranked 30th in total yards, and eight teams have less first downs than the Panthers from pass plays. Newton's individual numbers do not put him among the better half of quarterbacks in the league as he is 22nd in yards per attempt (7.05) and 32nd in completion percentage (54.2 percent) -- which also happens to be the worst in his career so far. To be fair, Newton's teammates have dropped the fifth most passes in the league with 15. Out of the 215 attempts, that comes out to 7 percent of those attempts are drops which is the worst in the league.
None of this analysis is to prove Newton is not talented or a good quarterback, but rather just an argument that proves he is not an MVP as of now. A better finish to the regular season could change the perception of those who are not on the "Cam for MVP" campaign. Newton is second to Russell Wilson in rushing yards for quarterbacks, but among all rushers Newton is tied for fourth in touchdowns -- which is remarkable. Newton has also shown better leadership this season as that was a criticism in the past from reporters and analysts. Newton has improved, and that is part of the reason why Carolina is 7-0 right now. But Newton also is not the most valuable player in the NFL... yet.
*All statistics were borrowed from ESPN.com, pro-football-reference.com and sportingcharts.com
