Cam Newton is on top of the world right now, and dabbing on it while he’s there. He’s playing his best football ever for the 13-0 Carolina Panthers, and is the deservingly prohibitive favorite for the NFL MVP award. But as out-of-nowhere as this season has seemed for Cam, in many ways he’s a model of consistency. Consider this knowledge bomb dropped by Michael David Smith:
Cam Newton is the only NFL player with at least five rushing touchdowns in each of the last five seasons. Not the only QB. The only player.
— Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) December 15, 2015
Though Cam is great, this stat speaks more to the fungibility of the running back position than anything else. We all know why Adrian Peterson skipped a year of scoring rushing touchdowns, but besides him, every big-name rusher has been felled by the injury bug (Jamaal Charles, Marshawn Lynch, Arian Foster) or nosedives from effectiveness to anonymity (Frank Gore, Alfred Morris). Quarterbacks, especially ones that run as much as Cam, take punishment too, but the running back position is a meat grinder. Still, that Cam has remained upright and effective enough to punch it into the end zone five teams a year for five years is a massive achievement.
And it becomes extra impressive when you consider this tidbit from Pro Football Talk:
There’s a long list of Hall of Fame running backs who had fewer rushing touchdowns in their first five seasons than Newton. Gale Sayers had 39. Thurman Thomas had 35. Jerome Bettis had 31. O.J. Simpson had 30. Larry Csonka had 27. John Riggins had 25.
You know what else is an achievement? Cam’s Panthers have made the second round of the playoffs in each of the last three seasons, twice with a bye. You can hate on him all you want, but he’s still going to be out here smiling and winning.
