PFF Yet Again Misses Mark on How Good Panthers QB Cam Newton Was

Turn on the tape, and you'll see that 2015 Cam Newton is one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the sport. The Carolina Panthers signal-caller reached a peak that year that so few players ever have.

Look at the numbers, and they're a little less inspiring, but they're still incredibly good. He was a worthy MVP. That doesn't mean he was perfect, though. In fact, according to PFF, he was pretty bad in one area. It's yet another example of how advanced analytics can miss the mark on how excellent the QB really was.

PFF's analysis of Cam Newton misses the entire point

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton (1) drops back to pass | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

PFF analyst Bradley Locker wrote about the most and least accurate NFL seasons by QBs. Cam Newton wasn't known for his accuracy, per se, but to think he had one of the least accurate seasons ever is wild. To think that season was 2015, the peak of an excellent career, is just astonishing.

Nevertheless, Newton apparently had the highest "catchable inaccurate" rate of all time that year, with a 31.7% mark. It beat out Zach Wilson in 2021 for the top spot.

Catchable inaccurate refers to inaccurate passes that were still caught, whether the receiver dove for it, slowed up to catch an underthrown ball, or even just extending their arms. Let's ignore the fact that extending one's arms really shouldn't make the pass "inaccurate."

Regardless, this means the passes were still catchable. Newton's biggest knock was his accuracy, although it was always pretty overblown. But even still, a large chunk of the "misses" Newton had were still caught, which should indicate that he was pretty good, even in that area of weakness.

Where PFF really goes wrong is in the analysis of this number. Bradley Locker wrote, "Newton’s MVP campaign in 2015 was one filled with countless highlights, dabbing his way to an 84.4 PFF passing grade. But interestingly enough, Newton was not the most precise, as his completions did not position his star-studded weaponry in optimal spots."

"Star-studded?" Are we reading that right? In 2015, Greg Olsen could have been perceived as a star, that much is true. But how in the world does a receiving corps of Devin Funchess, Ted Ginn, Jericho Cotchery, Philly Brown, and Brenton Bersin get labeled "star-studded" that year?

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Devin Funchess (17) reacts with quarterback Cam Newton | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Those players were mostly not very good. Ginn had a good year thanks to Newton. And after this season, Brown and Funchess never amounted to much. Bersin was a practice squad player elevated to a team with no depth out wide.

Newton did a Herculean job carrying that offense to the Super Bowl, so to knock him for being slightly off on a decent chunk of his passes and claim that he should've been better to help out his star pass-catchers is almost laughable.

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