2015 Fantasy Football: Russell Wilson or Cam Newton?
/When you think about “elite” fantasy quarterbacks Andrew Luck and Aaron Rodgers come to mind. But you most likely won't have the opportunity to draft one of those players. When you get to that point in your fantasy football draft where you need to draft a quarterback, who will you take?
Most fantasy football owners don't even have Cam Newton or Russell Wilson on the top of their wish list. But they should because the fantasy football experts think that Newton, and Wilson are both top ten worthy quarterbacks. But are they really worthy of their ranking?
Russell Wilson is currently ranked as the number three fantasy football quarterback on NFL.com, ESPN.com, and Yahoo.com. He is sitting behind Rodgers and Luck, but is ranked ahead of Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. Wilson has improved in each of his first three seasons in the league and finally proved that he belonged as a reliable fantasy option this past season. He finished sixth in the league by averaging 23.4 fantasy points per game, and led all quarterbacks with 849 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns. It didn’t seem to matter that Marshawn Lynch is the Seattle Seahawks’ workhorse.
It was pretty obvious that the Seattle Seahawks wanted Wilson to be one of the best fantasy quarterbacks in the league, when they added a big offensive weapon this offseason. That offensive weapon was tight end Jimmy Graham. He is an elite fantasy player, who owns the red zone by using his size to out jump the opposing players. This will be key for Wilson putting up more fantasy points this season.
The fantasy football experts have spoken and gave Cam Newton an average fantasy football quarterback ranking of 7.67. This puts him ranked higher than both Tom Brady and Tony Romo. But how can they justify this when Tom Brady is well “Tom Brady”, and Tony Romo has his own fantasy football camp? Newton said it best when he was asked about being on the leagues “greatest unknowns”. He said, “Nobody has the size, nobody has the speed, nobody has the arm strength, nobody had the intangibles that I’ve had.”
When Cam Newton has been healthy he has been a top-five fantasy football quarterback. He dropped off last season because of injuries and the struggling offense. Cam told us at training camp that he is healthy and is now a “5-year vet”. Cam should get back to being one of the best fantasy quarterbacks in the league because of his development, health, and the fact that his coaches want him to run.
If you had to choose, which quarterback would you rather have on your fantasy football team?
By, Justin Raymond
Follow Me On Twitter at @JayRay19