Can Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton improve upon his 2015 season? It’s far from impossible.
The Carolina Panthers head into OTAs with a leader in Cam Newton that is poised to break through as an elite play maker. In many ways he already solidified that with his 2015 campaign that garnered the NFL MVP award. However, Panthers’ coach Ron Rivera made some recent statements that Newton can improve in many ways. When looking at his performance during six years in the NFL, Rivera’s comment is extremely correct and there are a few areas in which Newton can continue to elevate his game.
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It goes without saying that Newton’s 2015 season was exceptional. He ended the year with 35 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, career-best in both areas. He also reached career-best numbers in QBR (66.09) and passer rating (99.2). The idea of doing even better this season may seem difficult, but Rivera firmly believes it’s possible.
“Everything,” Rivera said as reported by David Newton of ESPN. “Last year we talked about developing certain throws and he did that. Can he develop and get better physically? Yeah. His skill set can continue to get better.”
Based off that statement, Rivera is expecting much more from his star player. The question now becomes where can Newton continue to improve?
One place of interest is his completion percentage. Newton ended the year completing 59.7 of his passes. This is growth when compared to 2014, but still falls short of his goal to complete 60 percent last season; a feat that he’s reached twice: during his rookie season in 2011 and again in 2013. That rookie season is also the only year in which Newton’s threw more passes than he did this year: 517 in 2011 as opposed to 496 in 2015.
With the return of Kelvin Benjamin, the continued development of Ted Ginn Jr. and Devin Funchess, and the sure hands of Greg Olsen should help Newton hit that goal of completing 60 percent of his passes.
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When looking at how quarterbacks performed in 2015, 27 different QBs ended with a higher completion percentage than Newton. If he’s truly going to strengthen his argument that he’s an elite franchise quarterback, fans and opponents alike should expect him to work to improve this number in 2016.
Newton’s ability to run the ball is well-known throughout the NFL but opponents still struggle to stop him. Unfortunately, his penchant to tuck the ball and run puts him in danger of taking excessive hits, which can lead to long-term damage. Newton managed to carry much more of the rushing load in 2015 without suffering any major injuries, but one must wonder exactly how long he can continue to do so. The 132 attempts were the highest number that he’s experienced at this point in his career.
That brings up another area of interest when debating how Newton can improve upon his MVP season. With Jonathan Stewart, Mike Tolbert, Fozzy Whittaker and Cameron Artis-Payne, the Panthers have a capable committee that can continue the team’s dominant rushing attack. Perhaps Newton and Rivera can develop a play style that doesn’t remove the importance of the run, but allows Newton to take less of the load to avoid injury.
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Whether the public loves or hates him, Cam Newton is an amazing athlete that can break a huge play at any moment. He’s coming off of a fantastic year, quieting many of his naysayers. However, 2016 is a new opportunity for him to excel and those same individuals to hope for his failure. Improving in these areas will give Newton another set of accolades to add to his growing list in his still young career.