$103.8 million over five years to be exact. Kevin Seifert of NFL Nation offers an interesting perspective on the contract, arguing that the Panthers made the move because they had little choice:
Newton has had some spectacular moments amid shaky surrounding personnel, most notably as a multithreat player who has scored 33 rushing touchdowns, but he has never ranked higher than No. 14 in a season’s accounting of Total Quarterback Rating. In the 64 games since he entered the league in 2011, 15 quarterbacks have compiled better QBRs. His 55.8 career QBR, on a scale where 50 is average and 100 is perfect, defines him as an above-average quarterback.
That résumé doesn’t promise a Super Bowl championship, but the Panthers understood how scary the alternative could be. So should you. Let’s imagine for a moment that the 49ers and Bengals had decided against re-signing their starters and instead bid farewell to them after the 2014 season.
Who would they have acquired to start this season and for the future? The 49ers had the No. 15 pick in the draft and the Bengals were at No. 21. Neither positions were high enough to draft Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota, and there wasn’t another quarterback deemed valuable enough to draft until the middle of the third round. Would you feel any better about the 49ers’ or Bengals’ future with Garrett Grayson, Bryce Petty, Sean Mannion or Brett Hundley on the depth chart?
And who would you rather have starting this season? Kaepernick/Dalton or the head of the free agent “class,” Josh McCown? Do you think the 49ers should have dumped Kaepernick and signed Ryan Fitzpatrick? Should the Bengals have moved past Dalton and traded for Matt Cassel? Such was the 2015 veteran’s market.
So if the Panthers decided against committing to a $20 million annual average for Newton, and assuming they didn’t opt for the 2016 franchise tag, they would have been in the 2016 draft looking for a quarterback. There are some intriguing names in that class, from Penn State’s Christian Hackenberg to Michigan State’s Connor Cook to Ohio State’s Cardale Jones, but early excitement about college quarterbacks has tended to fade in recent years as the draft moves closer.
