Fantasy Football Today - 🚨Cam Newton to the Patriots! (06/28 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: June 29, 2020

We're back with a BONUS Pod to talk about the Patriots signing Cam Newton. Where is Cam in the rankings? Is he ahead of Aaron Rodgers? Jared Goff? Does he still have Top 5 upside? What does the fact that it took this long for Cam to sign a 1-year deal say about his health and what the NFL thinks about him? We also talk about the impact that this signing could have on N'Keal Harry, the Patriots RBs and the AFC East. 'Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow the new FFT Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/FFToday Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @YardsPerGretch, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. The last time we saw Cam Newton, he played two games. He did not score a touchdown. He rushed for negative two yards. But the last time we saw really healthy Cam Newton, he was having his second best season

before his shoulder injury really derailed his 2018 season. And now Cam Newton is a Patriot, and we welcome you to Fantasy Football today. It's a bonus podcast here. I'm Adam Azer with Jamie Eisenberg and Ben Gratch. Alright, let's get right to it. Jamie, you haven't updated your rankings as we speak. 9.30pm

Eastern Sunday night, but you probably will by the time people hear this if they hear it in the morning. So where do you think Cam Newton will end up in your rankings? Well, behind Jared Stidham. He's going to beat out Stidham for, uh, um, I think I'm going to put him probably 16. Uh, I struggle right now between Aaron Rogers and Jared golf. I have Rogers at 15 golf at 16. If Cam is right, he is going to be a top 10 quarterback. If he is wrong, we've seen the downside. So I think you just like, for me, I'm going to be a top 10 quarterback. If he is wrong, we've seen the downside.

So I think you just like for me, I'm going to take the swing at the fence. And this is something I never in my life thought I would say for Daniel Jones over Cam Newton. But I think there's more upside with Daniel Jones. I still think there's more upside with Ben Roethlisberger. So I'll probably toy with Rodgers and Cam, but I think Rodgers is safer. So I'd go that route, but I'd take him over Goff. Okay, Ben. I kind of thought he would be lower

in Jamie's rankings. That was higher than I anticipated. Ben, what say you on Cam Newton? I'm like right in the same spot. It's a... We have to wait and see, obviously, but I'm kind of assuming he's going to be the starter. And Jamie kind of made a joke.

We all would expect with his talent level that he would be the starter. But there are people that are saying that they don't believe that will happen. And I think we probably should talk about that a little bit. But I think right now I actually slotted him right ahead of Rodgers and Roethlisberger and golf, because I think if he's their starter, he's always been able to get, he doesn't have weapons, but he's always been able to get by without weapons. You know?

I mean, now that we know that Kelvin Benjamin didn't do a whole lot the rest of his career, we know that Cam Newton probably had a lot to do with that. And same with Devin Funchess. And those guys were pretty productive. And Greg Olson was always basically his only good receiver. And he's always been a really productive player and run for so many yards that it gives him a really strong fantasy floor.

So that's about right in the range where I'll look at, too. I could see definitely the case for those guys over him. But I think that 13 to 16 range is about right. If you draft two quarterbacks, he should be a priority for you. If you don't draft two quarterbacks and you wait, you could take a chance on him and then hope that you get a Gardner Minshew fallback option, Tyrod Taylor fallback option. You know, there, there are guys that can still get you by Teddy Bridgewater can help you if you're, if you're stuck, maybe Phillip Rivers. I mean, it's not a bad situation to sort of wait it out. if you are that type of fantasy manager to take a chance on Cam.

I don't think we've said this enough about the veterans. We've talked a lot about it with the rookies. He's behind the eight ball in this as well. The veterans changing teams haven't been on the field with anybody like the rookies haven't. It's an impact to them. He hasn't had the you know the virtual classroom at all uh i do think that this has probably been in the works for a little bit of time um the fact that it came down the same day that the patriots were penalized

uh they're smart enough to know like hey look at the shiny object over here while we're getting you know kicked in the butt over here. So that probably has a little bit to do with it. So there, you know, we all know that the things go on that aren't on the up and up in the NFL. I'm sure there's been maybe a playbook or two past the long that he's probably, you know, been studying a little bit. But, you know, he may have to win the job. You know, the Patriots have been very glowing about Stidham. So we'll see how much they like him.

We'll find out soon enough. Okay, let's go through the career of Cam Newton quickly here in case you have forgotten what he has been in fantasy. From a basic statistical standpoint, he's not a prolific passer because he doesn't throw that much. He's had one season with 4,000 passing yards. That was his rookie season. He's had one season with more than 24 passing yards. That was his rookie season. He's had one season with more than 24 passing touchdowns. That was his 2015 MVP season.

He threw 35 touchdowns. Per 16 games, he usually rushes for, I don't know, 600 rushing yards. There's a wide range, but at least 500, 600, maybe 700 in his prime rushing yards. Usually four to six rushing touchdowns, or maybe five to seven rushing touchdowns. So let's say six-ish rushing touchdowns. What's that meant in fantasy? His first three years of his career, he was a top five fantasy quarterback. 2014, he was outside the top 12, but he missed a couple games.

He was top 10 per game. So, so far, great start to his career. 2015, bam, MVP season. 3,837 yards passing plus 636 on the ground, 45 touchdowns, number one quarterback in fantasy. If you tell me right now, Adam, not to cut you off, but if you tell me right now he's running for 500-plus yards, he's right. Yeah.

If he's right, he's a top 10 quarterback. Right. Okay, so 2016 2016 he struggles he uh he had a concussion that year after the concussion he ran for 19.3 rushing yards per game which is very low for him so it comes back in 2017 he's number two in four point for passing touchdown leagues he's number five in six point for passing touchdown leagues he was great value that year. And 2018 was really interesting. He was having his best season, his second best season, and then he hurt his shoulder, and he still was playing pretty well for a couple games after that,

and then it just went downhill. He ends up right around 12th overall, top eight per game. He missed two games. But that was a really good year, and I drafted a ton of Cam Newton. Then he got in 2019. Then he got hurt in the preseason, hurt his foot. Obviously wasn't the same. Negative two rushing yards in two games, didn't score any touchdowns.

So if he's right, talking about a guy who has had consistent top five upside, even while not throwing for a ton of yards or a ton of touchdowns because he has been the premier rushing quarterback in football. That's obviously not going to be the case with Jackson, but he could be second best. Let's talk about, though, I ask people for questions of Cam Newton, and here's an interesting one. How similar is this Patriots receiving core, tight ends included, to that of the 2015 Carolina Panthers, his MVP year? They had Greg Olson, 1,100 yards and seven touchdowns. Ted Ginn, 739

and 10 touchdowns. 739 yards and 10 touchdowns. Nobody else had 500 yards. Jericho Cotri, Devin Funches, Corey Brown. He had an MVP season with a pretty lousy receiving core outside of Greg Olson. But you look at the Patriots.

They might have a better... He was 26 then, too. What's that? He at the Patriots. They might have a better... He was 26 then, too. He was 26. Yeah. They might have a better offensive line that they had last year, but they don't have their offensive line coach. They really were terrible last year. They don't have a dynamic outside receiver unless Nikhil Harry is something.

You know, look, it's not a great situation to walk into, I guess is what I'm saying, even though it's the Patriots. So what is the upside for Cam Newton? It's top five. Think so? Yeah, I guess is what I'm saying, even though it's the Patriots. So what is the upside for Cam Newton? It's top five. Think so? Yeah, I think pretty easily. If you go look at the five years that he played

16 games, I think he was top five every year. He's never not played 16 games and not been top five. That upside very much exists if he's running. Like Jamie said, if he's right and he's running that much, he hasn't, you already said it, he hasn't needed to throw for more than 25 touchdowns. He hasn't needed to throw for 4,000 yards. And I don't think he necessarily will. I think everyone's saying there's going to be a run team. Well,

yeah, it probably will be a run first team, but he hasn't needed those things with how much rushing value he provides to be a top five quarterback every time. I think it's each of the four or five times that he's played 16 games. And the Nikhil Harry point is an interesting one for me too, because Kevin Benjamin's rookie season right away, big year, and high touchdown rate. Devin Funchess' best season, he was 23. It was his third year, but it was after Benjamin left,

he took over as the number one. Eight touchdowns, pretty high touchdown rate. Those are two big- bodied outside receivers. Nikhil Harry's maybe not as thick as those guys, but he's a tall athletic outside receiver. And the hope for Harry, I think, has been that he could be a guy could carry a high touchdown rate and maybe score some TVs. I could see Harry filling that type of role. So to the question that you got, I don't know if 2015 receiving core is a perfect match because I don't think they have a Greg Olson on that roster.

They drafted some new tight ends, but we'll see how those guys pan out. They don't really have a Ted Ginn either. They don't have Philip Dorsett anymore. I don't know that they really have that type of deep speed unless I'm forgetting somebody. If he's right, he's not a burner like those guys, but maybe Marquise Lee. I mean, he could potentially do some of that. I think if you're, I don't want to use the word infatuated, but if you're interested in Cam, just think of what Josh Allen was last year.

Josh Allen ran for in the 500-yard range. He scored nine rushing touchdowns. He wasn't the best passer. I mean, that's poor man Cam Newton. Well, let me read this question from Russell. Do you think they will actually run Cam Newton, Well, let me read this question from Russell. Do you think they will actually run Cam Newton or will Belichick keep him in the pocket most of the time? I think that they will allow Cam to be Cam

if they're going to commit to him. You know, if they're going to try and force Cam Newton to be Tom Brady, it's a huge mistake. Right. That's not something the Patriots have ever done. Right? Like they've never taken a player and fit them to their system. They've always molded their system around the talent that they have.

Right. I think this is, you know, amazing defense. Obviously, you know, you may nitpick, but best coach in the league. No, you're not nitpicking. Best coach in the league. Right. And so it's still a very winnable division. You know, Miami is still rebuilding. The jets are still rebuilding the bills. Everybody's anointing them as the best team in the division.

Well, not the case anymore. Now that the Patriots have some semblance of a quarterback. And so the, the formula has always been walk through the AFC East, get our first round by, and the path to the super Bowl has been right there. It's why they've been so many times in the Brady Belichick era.

And so they could still have that formula. Now, the Chiefs are obviously better. The Ravens are better. The Steelers are probably better. But, you know, the the the still the path is there. If you have a healthy, capable, potentially dominant Cam Newton. And so if they're going to allow him to be him, which is, you know,

the one thing Belichick's always done, players that have done well against him, he typically tries to go out and get. And Cam was 2-0 against him in his career. I got to ask you this. They waited the entire offseason. Nobody signed him. He signed a one-year deal.

Does that tell you something about what we're getting from Cam Newton? This is something I really wanted to get into because my immediate reaction, because I'm always like this with contracts. I was just talking about this with Miles Sanders and the Eagles, not prioritizing a second running back. I'm always like, when did they sign a player? How much did they sign for him?

We can learn a lot from that. But in this case, it's so unique from both sides. It's unique because it's the Patriots and the Patriots do things in unique ways. They do things very intelligently, in my opinion. Then it's also unique because Cam Newton was coming back from a health situation and we have a really odd off season and he hasn't been able to show that he's healthy. So we knew his market was going to be slow to develop. It is not hard to believe now that we know that he's on their team, that they have basically been waiting all off season to sign him. And he's been waiting to see if maybe another starting job opened up.

We don't know if, you know, another starter could have got hurt training in the off season or something, you know, things can happen, but for Newton, it was always going to be a one-year prove a deal. Cause he was never going to be able to show how healthy he was. As soon as this off season happened and all the uncertainty, it was going to be a one-year prove a deal. And that means if he's going to be smart on his end, it's got to be able to show how healthy he was as soon as this offseason happened and all the uncertainty. It was going to be a one-year prove-it deal. And that means if he's going to be smart on his end,

it's got to be a good fit, right? And the Patriots feel like a good fit. I feel like, knowing all the facts that we know, that this deal has probably been out there for a long time. The other fact we know, the Patriots had the lowest amount of cap space in the NFL as of today. They had no room whatsoever. They had to...

Even before then. Yeah, right. Now they have even less. They had to find a way. They had to find a way to fit him into the cap and they're smart. They're going to be patient. And it does not surprise me at all, or would not surprise me at all. If we found out, which we'll never find out, but that this offer has been there, that Cam Newton's camp has been trying to see if some other better offer would open up. But either way, he knew he was going to be on a proof of deal. And if it was always sort of likely that Newton would wind up in New England on both sides of this, but he wanted to be able to have the ability to test the market, see what happened, see if, you know, coronavirus, you know, things opened up enough that he could prove his health

and maybe get a big deal. Who knows what would happen? You know, so much uncertainty. So like given all of those things and given this, the Patriots, you knew the Patriots are going to be smart about it. They knew he was going to have to sign a private deal. They were, you knew if they were going to bring him in, it was going to be a blow market deal. I'm not really reading into any of that. Like I, in this case, and normally I do, but in this case, I'm like, you know what? This makes a lot of sense that he would sign now with you. And I would like, you know what? This makes a lot of sense that he would sign now. I'm totally with you. And I would imagine, like you said, Cam Newton's camp.

I would imagine if the Patriots said, we need you just to be patient. You're a guy. Well, I don't want to get into these hypothetical situations. No, but I'm just saying from the standpoint of, to your point, Adam, because it does make sense. Why did this not happen sooner? I mean, he may have accepted a one-, seven and a half million dollar incentive laden deal in April, you know, I mean, you know, or right after the draft, you know, who knows when this offer was put on the, on the table for him. But if you're Cam, the chance to play for

Belichick, the chance to play for this, you know, proven winner year, year in, year out, the chance to, you know, I think they're still on national TV almost as much as they've ever been. So you get the spotlight as well. I think, you know, where else was he going to get a chance to start? Washington with his old coach.

I mean, they're talking about Kyle Allen. They're talking about Kyle Allen starting there because of the virus. But they ruled that out, though. Ruled what out? Washington has ruled that out. Why? Because they wanted to see what they have in Dwayne Haskins.

Or, yes, I'm sure that's part of it for sure. But also, the coach who knows Cam Newton better than anyone else ruled out signing a former MVP. I just think that, like, okay, we could just say the Patriots played this great, or we could say nobody wanted Cam Newton. Well, think that we could just say the Patriots played this great, or we could say nobody wanted Cam Newton. There's obviously concern

about it. You're not signing 2015 Cam Newton. Anybody would have done whatever they could to get that guy on the roster. For Rivera, if he goes out and signs Cam Newton and he fails, his leash is shorter. All right, let's talk more fantasy here.

Julian Edelman's around 30th in the rankings. You think you're going to change him? No. Okay, how about the running backs? I've got a lot of questions about the running backs. In fact, one person wants to know, is Rex Burkhead the best fit behind Cam Newton? What happens to the Patriots running backs?

Why would that make Rex Burkhead the best fit? I Newton? What happens to the Patriots running backs? Why would that make Rex Burkhead the best fit? I don't know, but we got a question, so I'm reading it. I don't like Tony Michel even less than I already didn't like him because Newton could easily vulture some touchdowns, and that's kind of what you're hoping from him. Newton showed with Christian McCaffrey over

the last couple of seasons, or excuse me, over the last couple, but the first two of McCaffrey's career that he could throw to the running backs more than he had prior. He had almost never thrown to the running backs prior. But that could be a positive, obviously, mark for James White. He's the one back that I would have some interest in. I'd still take a flyer on Damien Harris at this point just because he's you know next to nothing in terms of cost with Michelle coming off the injury so I'm with Ben I'm not going to touch

Sonny Michelle uh you know as as anything more than if he just continues to fall and fall and fall but I think White gets a little little bit of a boost you know this this isn't necessarily something like you know again you're not getting pete cam newton you're not getting you know a guy that's going to all of a sudden increase the value of anybody of what they were with brady because what brady did with edelman what brady did with white that was catered to his skill set it was catered to what those guys needed from their quarterback. Cam is different. And so I think Cam for Nikhil Harry is a big win.

You know, that's the type of receiver like, you know, whereas Brady, and we've had this conversation about Godwin and Evans, is Brady going to make those guys better, given that we didn't see him outside of the Randy Moss era, really excel with an outside receiver. Cam will do that. You know, he did it with Steve Smith who played inside and outside. He did it with, you know, the guys that we talked about, Benjamin and a little bit of fun, just in a little bit of Ted game, you know, so, um, I am curious to

see which tight end wins the job, you know, because I do think that's something that you can, especially we're going to do, uh, you know, I, I was going to save this for Monday show, but we're going to do a Scott fishbowl mock draft on a Twitch on Tuesday night. And in any tight end premium, this could be a spot where you look for somebody, you know, whether it's Asi Asi, who would be my favorite choice if I had to take a Patriots tight end, but you know, Matt Lacoste, maybe, you know,

if he's the one that ends up, you know, just being the safety valve and a better blocker than, than the young kids. So that's something I think you want to keep an eye on. But Nikhil Harry is the one, I think, of the weapons who you go, okay, this could be something good. I don't care about Mohamed Sanu. He's not somebody that's going to intrigue me on draft day.

Maybe that changes during the season on waivers. But Edelman is the same. White, I think, is a little better. And Harry is somebody that now is – you were drafting him as a fifth receiver. Now you're drafting him maybe as a fourth. Why is White better? I think just competency, knowing that Cam, like Ben said, you've seen it with McCaffrey a little bit. White, I think, just based on the weaponry, they don't have a lot.

I think this is where McDaniels comes in. You know, McDaniels will scheme things for James White still. He's so good at what he does. Yeah, and the offense will be better. Jamie's right, competency. And we saw with Newton that he could throw. He made Christian McCaffrey's receiving role really strong. As we're sitting here talking, it seems to me that Julian Edelman

makes a lot of sense to get a lot of the targets that Newton used to send to Greg goals. Yeah. I mean, I agree with Jamie that Aussie Aussie would be the tight end that I'd prefer, but he's never really used Newton to my recollection, any kind of slot receiver and any kind of high volume role at all. And now that the Edelman's there,

it would, it would make some sense if Edelman took a lot of those types of targets. Right. And before you get into the tendencies and say, well, he's never used a slot receiver. I don't know where Steve Smith was playing in 2011 and 12, but he,

you know, Cam Newton had never thrown two running backs until Christian McCaffrey. So good players going to adapt to his personnel, a slight exception, 2011, Jonathan Stewart had 413 receiving yards, 47 catches. That's pretty good.

But after that, no running back had more than 226 yards receiving, no running back before McCaffrey, who had 11 touchdown catches in two years with Cam, not including 2019. No running back had more than two receiving touchdowns, I don't think anyway, at least not the leading receiving running back on his team. It might be possible, Mike Tolbert caught a few, I don't know. But the fact is, you can't always just look at tendencies because players can break those tendencies based on the personnel around them, based on the coaching. And I just think I can't imagine a more sharp contrast. The Patriots go from Tom Brady to Cam Newton. It's just fascinating.

But Belichick's been saying a lot of things about Lamar Jackson over the last year plus and running different types of offenses. And he's had comments about Newton in the past that have floated today now. Yeah, I'm just saying, I just think it's just fun.

It's completely different. Yeah, it is, but it's interesting. No, I agree. It's a huge contrast, but I think it's interesting that they're going to probably be a completely different type of offense. Any final thoughts, guys? Who's going to win the NFC? Who's going to win the AFC? I really do. Yeah, I hope he's healthy, too.

I think people are going to dwell too much on the talent around him when he's been really successful with limited talent around him, dating back to college, dating back to JUCO, when he won a JUCO national title. This guy can carry an offense when he's healthy, and Jamiemy's right i hope he's healthy and if he's healthy they're gonna be good who's gonna win the division yeah who them who's going to it depends on his health if he's healthy i think they win it i agree i i like i just keep looking like i'm staring at my rankings as we're talking like, and,

and it's a very similar conversation. Like you, and it's only a year removed. Like you forget how good Ben Roethlisberger was in 2018. You forget how good Cam Newton can be. If he's healthy, he's 31. Obviously what he does best requires him rushing, but you know, I'll go back to what I said before. If you were to tell me right now, he's going to run for 500 plus yards. that to me is he's got top five potential yeah right there that's the only number i need to hear it's a big number he could throw for 2500 yards well no 500 yards

that means he's he's got to be close to 100 and i think he's got a chance to put up good numbers that's okay all right but not 2500 yards let's yards. We'll talk that up a little bit. All right, good stuff, guys. I'm just saying right now, if you tell me right now, he's got 500 yards by the end of the 2020 season, I think he's going to end up having a good year. He could throw for 1,200 yards, but I think he's going to run for, if he throws me 500 yards, he's going to have a good year.

Yeah, all right, good stuff. Thank you, guys. Appreciate your time on this Sunday night. Now on Monday morning, we'll talk to Scott Fish. He's going to be on to talk about a draft we did a couple weeks ago and the Scott Fish Bowl. And then we've got a top five week. Top five biggest

backfield battles. You'll hear that on Tuesday. Right now, I want to say thanks to Jamie and Ben. Thanks a lot for listening, everybody. I'm Adam Azer. We'll talk to you on Monday with a fresh episode of Fantasy Football.