RGIII vs. Cam Newton - who is the better QB?

Who is the better (fantasy) franchise quarterback, Robert Griffin III or Cam Newton.  This is, or at least should be, a hot topic of discussion but unfortunately the national media has fallen in love with the new new thing, RG3 and annointed him the great savior.  However by the most important measures, sustained success and production, Cam Newtwon is at or above RG3 in both those categories, making him the better quarterback.  

Let's start the argument with team success, as we all know the quarterback gets more credit (and criticism for a team's success).  In college Cam Newton won three national titles (1 at Florida, 1 at junion college and 1 at Auburn), the last one at Auburn he single handedly took a previously average team to an undefeated title, and since he left for the NFL they've failed to post a winning season. In contrast, RG3 took a Baylor team to one of its best years over the past decade but failed to make a BCS game.  This year, a year after he'd left, Baylor replicated the same season and finished strong dominating a team from the Pac12.  In short RG3 was less important to his college team's success than Cam Newton was to his.  

Moving to the pro game; Cam Newton was the first overall selection in '11 by one of the most pathetic offensive squads over the past decade, Carolina Panthers.  They had won a single game the previous year, he came in and set all-time rookie record for passing yards, total TD's, rushing yards for a QB and led the Panthers to 6 wins.  RG3 was the second overall selection in '12 to an average (7-9 previous year's record) Washington Redskins team that traded up to select him.  They invested heavily in their receiving core and spent high draft choices on their offensive line, so by any measure he joined a much stronger team.  Statistically RG3 had a great year throwing only 4 interceptions (to go with 20 TD passes), he threw for 3200 yards and rushed for another 815 (breaking Cam Newton's record from the previous year).  By the most important measure though he'd combined for 27 TD's, less than 10 turnovers and led the Redskins to their first division title in over a decade.   It's hard to argue that Newton has had more success in the NFL, his teams have gone 13-19 across two seasons but they've improved given where they started.  In short RG3 is off to a better NFL start from a team success standpoint.   

Production is the next area to look at.  While we could argue college stats, I'm going to leave that equation out of it because both of these guys won heisman trophy's putting up video game stats (ie Cam Newton rushed for over 1400 yards his last year in college).  There professional stats have been chronicled a bit in this post already so I'm going to focus on fantasy production which summarizes their production.  In the paffl scoring format (4 points TD pass, 6 points for TD run or catch; 1 point per 10 yards rushing or receiving, or for each 30 yards passing), Newton finished as the #2 overall QB scorer in 2011 and the #5 in 2012.  Griffin III was the #3 QB scorer in 2012. RG3 was more efficient with his production, which means he turned the ball over less and had high quarterback efficiency ratings, however this always brings up the original point in my thesis that RG3 joined a much better team, requiring him to do a lot less to be successful.  In fact the Redskins only improved their win total this year by 3, vs. Newton improving his by 5.  

The reality of an argument like this is you're comparing two spectacular, NFL evolving talents to each other, neither one is truly wrong.  That said its my opinion that Cam Newton is the better, more transcendent talent, he's proven he can be a champion (albeit on college level), he also has the size and arm strength to maintain his production well into his 30's, whereas there are always going to be questions about RG3's frame and his ability to stay healthy long-term. Thus if I had to select one of these guys to build my team today, I'd take Newton but in no way would I argue that RG3 isn't a potential superstar (and a great player in his own right). 

Thoughts? 

Comments

[PASB]

decent write-up but i think your Cam Newton love (and the fact he's on your team) has slightly provided a bit of bias here.

Both are great fantasy QBs but given past track records of similar QBs, it's a short 3-5 years that they'll be productive.

[NT]

Kap and RWilly need to be entered into this conversation

[BeaverCats]

Bias is fair...though it still stands to reason that RG3 hasn't won anything (at any level), nor have Kap or RWilly - though I sure as hell hope Kap changes that in 12 days!

[pasb]

Has Newton won a playoff game yet?

(i truthfully don't know but i'm pretty sure Kappie and Russell, last name Wilson have)

[BeaverCats]

Newton has a title, and remember he joined a terrible team (that's what happens when you're the #1 overall pick) vs. Kappie & Wilson which joined average squads.

Big difference but one you wouldn't understand b/c you don't actually watch or care about the game :)

[Colin Kaepernick]

I'm better than Newton. This should be obvious by now.

[pasb]

i think a lot of cruddy qbs have won a college national title. In fact, perhaps more shitty than quality.

Carolina was 12-4 and then 8-8 before they collapsed and got the #1 pick. It was not a horrible team.

that said, the seahawks and niners of 2012 were much much better.

i have watched every kappie game in 2012.

[BeaverCats]

The point was that Cam Newton took a mediocre college team and in 1 year took them to an undefeated national title. Since he left they've gone in the toilet. Major, major difference - vs. QB's on great college programs/teams who won national titles. Basically anybody who watches college football will tell you Cam Newton was that entire offense (proven by the number of offensive teammates of him to make the NFL - 0).

Again you have NO credibility b/c you don't watch the games.

[pasb]

2012 Jankster Cup Champion = no credibility?

[BeaverCats]

http://insider.espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8994474/auburn-tigers-programs-trending-wrong-direction-college-football here is statistical prove of what Cam Newton did in college for Auburn.

RE: Credibility - no, you play the stats and work angles, you don't actually watch the games (especially college) to see players develop over a period of time.

EG - my post on Kaepernick (which nobody can disagree with my main point - with the super bowl on the line he threw away 3 consecutive passes, it's the definition of a choke) is precisely game plays you need to watch in detail to understand. If Kaepernick had at least throw 1 catchable ball (such as on 4th down at least just throwing it up in the middle of the end zone/aka not 5 yards out of the end zone) then there would be an argument but instead he couldn't handle the pressure.

You're successsful in the paffl in spite of not being a true football fan...your competitiveness leads you to consume more analysis (such as football guys, index, outsiders, etc) that you're more prepared analytically which leads to success. The formula isn't rocket science but it requires dedicated (time). I read a lot too but I mix it into a LOT of game action, college and pro. For fantasy either approach works; for real life (is a guy a choke?, only watching a player's decision making in crucial moments can tell you one way or another.

[PASB]

I don't know... I think I'm pretty lucky too. Brady $3. Warner $1. Alfred Morris $2. Decker $5. WEEDEN $55.