Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton had his fair share of struggles during the 2018 season, but there was one place that he was elite, during play action. According to Pro Football Focus Newton had a 122.4 passer rating on play-action passes which was the 4th highest total in the NFL.
Panthers QB Cam Newton had the league's 4th-highest play-action passer rating a season ago pic.twitter.com/Bg2mzLs8R6
— PFF (@PFF) May 13, 2019
One of the big reasons that Newton was so successful doing play action was because of how good Christian McCaffrey was out of the backfield for the Panthers.
Newton passed for 3,395 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions but he had a tough time throwing the ball deep because of his shoulder injury. Newton had shoulder surgery this offseason to fix the issue, and he is happy about the progress he has made.
“I'm feeling great now,” Newton said via ESPN. “I feel like I do have full strength right now. But me telling the doctor, that is different than, you know, whatever the clearance process may be.”
Newton knows at times last season he wasn't honest with himself or others how his shoulder was feeling and he knows that is most important right now.
“Just the rehab process,” Newron said. “…Being honest, that's one of the main things on both sides. Not only with the training staff to me, but me with training staff, me letting them know how my body feels, coming up with a plan for practice to being on a pitch count, do I even need a pitch count, and staying on top of the signs before things kind of roll off the hinges.
With a healthy shoulder and the run game still strong, there is a good chance that Newton could actually improve on his passer rating on play-action passes next season.
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