Believe It or Not: Can Cam Newton still be your starter?
Believing in Tyrod Taylor to quarterback the Bills? Ready to downgrade Cam Newton and DeMarco Murray? Heath Cummings offers his oft-contrary views.
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This time of year backup quarterbacks become the most popular players on the team and you cringe at every team alert you receive on your phone. Injuries and position battles have taken center stage with some interesting quotes on the fringe.
We're getting into the heart of draft season and there is one major mistake I see way too often. The last news becomes the most important news, even if it's not even really news. Speculation from a beat writer can outweigh months of critical thinking solely because it happened two days before you draft. Don't be that guy.
With that being said, here's some of the news from the past two weeks, both actionable and not.
Tyrod Taylor should be the Bills starting quarterback.
Taylor is second in the NFL in rushing yards in the preseason and has thrown the ball pretty well as well. Maybe most importantly, he seems to provide an energy level to the offense that Matt Cassel and EJ Manuel do not. Taylor also seems to have a fan in GM Doug Whaley:
"He's got everything you're looking for. We just have to make sure he can produce when his time's called."
Taylor has completed just 54 percent of his NFL passes in limited action but his ability to create on the ground may be the spark this offense needs.
Verdict: Believe it. I don't really think Taylor has a huge Fantasy appeal except for possibly in four-point per T D leagues. However, I do think his style could really benefit LeSean McCoy and maybe even Percy Harvin. The Bills don't have a pocket quarterback who is good enough to scare anyone, so why not go with the best playmaker? The only person who may suffer from this move is Sammy Watkins, but I'm not sure Matt Cassel would help him anyway.
The loss of Kelvin Benjamin knocks Cam Newton out of the top 10 QBs.
Dave and Jamey both dropped Cam Newton from their top 10s after the Benjamin injury and it's not hard to see why. The Panthers WR corps is now "led" by Jerricho Cotchery, Ted Ginn, Jr. and Corey Brown. There's some hope in rookie Devin Funchess, but by all accounts he's more raw and less talented than Benjamin was as a rookie. It's hard to bet on a quarterback who only has Greg Olsen to throw to.
Verdict: Don't believe it. Newton has played 16 games three times in his career, and has been a top-six quarterback all three. He's never had what we could consider to be a good WR corps. Yes, he had aging Steve Smith and raw Kelvin Benjamin, but it's largely been Newton and Olsen. If anything I would guess the Benjamin news spells more runs for Newton, and he's more efficient on the ground.
DeMarco Murray is in for a rude awakening.
I think everyone agrees that DeMarco Murray will get fewer touches than last year. That's why no one is predicting the 2,200 yards or 13 touchdowns that Murray accumulated in 2014. Tony Dorsett took it a step further this year, saying that Murray may have bigger problems in 2015:
"DeMarco Murray may be in for a surprise ... He had the privilege of running behind one of the best offensive lines that I've seen in a long, damn time. So, we're going to see just how good DeMarco Murray is."
Verdict: Don't believe it. Murray's 0.67 Fantasy points per touch in 2015 was nearly identical to his career average. In his four years in the NFL he's never been below 0.59 and he's never finished above 0.76. Even if you want to drop Murray down to 300 touches this year (LeSean McCoy had 340+ the last two years) your'e looking at somewhere around RB7 or RB8 production.
You shouldn't completely ignore Darren McFadden on draft day.
It was an eventful week for McFadden. Now that he's actually practicing we got fun Jerry Jones quotes about how good he is and McFadden himself talked about sharing carries. I'm not someone who has ever really bought into the Joseph Randle hype, especially now that he's a third-round pick. This news should slow some people down on Randle.
Verdict: Believe it. OK, let me clarify. These quotes are exactly the type of 'news' that isn't really news. Jerry Jones is prone to hyperbole and McFadden saying he feels good isn't exactly comforting. So while I would discount the quotes they do serve as a good reminder that as long as McFadden is healthy the plan is for there to be a timeshare in Dallas. Whether that's a 70/30 split or a 55/45 split will depend a lot on production. Either way, you can't take Randle in the third and completely forget about McFadden especially since it's Randle who is battling an injury now.
The Redskins are going to be a Fantasy disaster.
Things certainly didn't look good for Robert Griffin III and company in their first two preseason games. Griffin has already lost his starting tight end and DeSean Jackson is recovering from a shoulder injury. To make things worse his offensive line allowed him to be hit on six of his eight drop backs on Thursday. It's difficult to see Griffin staying healthy this year or anyone on this offense being productive.
Verdict: Don't believe it. I don't think there is anyone drafting Griffin as a starter anyway, but ignoring this whole offense would be a mistake. DeSean Jackson was just as good with Kirk Cousins under center, and Alfred Morris has been a consistent RB2 the last two years despite the mess at QB, and I don't see that changing.















