Tag: Cam Newton

Quarterbacks Hall of Fame Chances

The infinite question of whether a QB belongs in the Hall of Great or the Hall of Fame. Below I’ll detail recently retired QBs and whether I think they will make the Hall and whether I think they should make the Hall. There’s a difference.

Matt Ryan

Career Highlights: 4 Pro Bowls, 1x All-Pro, 2016 MVP, 2016 OPOY, 7th in Career Passing Yards, 9th in Career Passing Touchdowns, 0-1 in Super Bowls

Matt Ryan was an amazing player who will unfortunately always be remembered for a bad thing. 28-3 will be his legacy forever. It’s the first thing you think of when you think of him. He put up great numbers and even won an MVP. But not only did he not win a Super Bowl, he chocked it away in magnificent fashion. That, combined with not consistently being a Top 5 QB, will leave him out.

Will he make it: No

Does he deserve to make it: No

Ben Roethlisberger

Career Highlights: 6 Pro Bowls, 5th in Career Passing Yards, 8th in Career Passing Touchdowns, 2-1 in Super Bowls

Big Ben was always one of the most overrated players in the league. He put up numbers and won 2 Super Bowls., however, those Super Bowls were in spite of him, not because of him. His TD-INT ratio was 3-5 in those games and he never won Super Bowl MVP. Plus, he was never an All-Pro and we never thought of him as a guy who was consistently a Top 5 QB in the league.

Will he make it: Yes

Does he deserve to make it: No

Phillip Rivers

Career Highlights: 8 Pro Bowls, 6th in Career Passing Yards and Touchdowns

Another guy who really needed a Super Bowl win to secure his legacy. But unfortunately, he had to deal with Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and other great AFC QBs throughout his career and never even made it. Combine that with no All-Pros and no big awards and he shouldn’t make it.

Will he make it: No

Does he deserve to make it: No

Eli Manning

Career Highlights: 4 Pro Bowls, 10th in Career Passing Yards and Touchdowns, 2-0 in Super Bowls, 2 Super Bowl MVPs

The ultimate underdog. Eli underwhelmed in the regular season, but shined in the playoffs. Unlike, Big Ben, he excelled in the postseason during his 2 Super Bowl runs. The first thing you think of with him is stopping the Pats from going undefeated in 2007. Then he preceded to beat them again in 2011. That’s a guy who deserves a Hall of Fame spot.

Will he make it: Yes

Does he deserve to make it: Yes

Cam Newton

Career Highlights: 3 Pro Bowls, 1x All-Pro, 2015 MVP, 2015 OPOY, 32nd in Career Passing Yards, 57th in Career Passing Touchdowns, 2nd in Career Rushing Yards by a QB, 1st in Career Rushing Touchdowns by a QB, 0-1 in Super Bowls

He was absolutely amazing to watch in his prime. But his style of play that made him so great also led to him taking so many hits and shortened his career. He helped usher in the new style of dual threat QBs and was the greatest rushing QB ever. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a prolific enough passer to warrant being in the Hall of Fame.

Will he make it: No

Does he deserve to make it: No

Andrew Luck

Career Highlights: 4 Pro Bowls, 90th in Career Passing Yards, 72nd in Career Passing Touchdowns

I think Luck is the best QB on this list and if I was starting a team I would pick him over all of these guys. Unfortunately for him and NFL fans, the Colts couldn’t protect him and he retired early. If he played as long as Eli, Rivers, or Big Ben did, he would’ve been in without a doubt. But health is a huge part of football and that was the one thing he didn’t have.

Will he make it: No

Does he deserve to make it: No

Who would you rather have: Cam Newton or Ryan Tannehill?

On the surface, the question seems absurd. Cam Newton is Cam Newton. Heisman Trophy Winner, National Champion, #1 overall pick, MVP, the list goes on. On the other hand, Ryan Tannehill is… well his resume isn’t as impressive, to say the least. However, if you take a deep dive into their passing statistics, and forget the names, they are basically the same quarterback.

QB 1 season Averages: 3,582 yds, 22.6 TD, 13.4 INT, 58.5% Comp%, 85.3 Rating, 1.68 TD/INT ratio, 4.6% TD%, 2.7% INT%, 7.3 Y/A.

QB 2 season Averages: 3,691 yds, 21.2 TD, 13.2 INT, 62.7% Comp%, 86.5 Rating, 1.61 TD/INT ratio, 4.0% TD%, 2.5% INT%, 7.0 Y/A.

(Shout out to Pro Football Reference for the info those guys basically have every team or player stat you could ever want to know about.)

Looking at that comparison QB 2 beats QB 1 in six out of the nine categories posted. Realistically though, they are so close in every stat other than Comp% you could be satisfied with flipping a coin to decide who to pick.

Reveal time: Newton is QB 1 and Tannehill is QB 2. Other interesting stats are that Newton has just one more 4th Quater Comebacks (13 vs 12) and only 5 more Game Winning Drives (15 vs 10) than Tannehill despite starting 31 more games (108 vs 77).

With all that being said of course I would pick Newton over Tannehill. While I do think Newton is vastly overrated, only looking at passing statistics do not do Cam Newton justice as a player. He has rushed for 4,320 yds (3rd most by a QB) and 54 TDs (Most by a QB) and is well on his way to becoming the greatest rushing QB in NFL history- if he isn’t already. His rushing threat pushes him well past Tannehill in terms of choosing between them. I also like that Newton (65-45-1) has won more than Tannehill (37-40). While their floors are the same, Newton’s ceiling is much higher than Tannehill’s, as proven by his MVP season in 2015.

The point of this blog is that when you take away names and just look at stats it’s crazy how much easier it is to compare players and see who is overrated and who is underrated.