Who Would You Prefer at QB Next Season: Cam Newton or Aaron Rodgers?

Cam Newton is at the height of his powers right now. The presumptive regular season MVP led his team to a 15-1 record in the regular season, and they’re headed to the Super Bowl. You know that already, but this is now reaching the point where it begs the question if Newton has wrested away the ‘best quarterback alive’ title belt that Aaron Rodgers has unofficially held since Super Bowl XLV in early 2011.

Now, the last time we saw Aaron Rodgers, he was completing two Hail Mary’s to Jeff Janis, and never got the ball back in overtime. How could he have been passed? On Sunday, Bob McGinn went through some of the harrowing stats on the Packers’ offense this season:

"Can you imagine this offense finishing 25th in passing yards? It’s the Packers’ lowest ranking since the strike season of 1987. Or this offense coming in 23rd in total yards, the worst ranking since Lindy Infante was trying to coach in 1991. Thirty-first on first down and 28th on third down, the lowest finish for the Packers since before the arrival of Wolf, Favre and Mike Holmgren 24 years ago. […] Rodgers had a poor season, and it was a huge problem for McCarthy and his coaches. Much of this rests on his shoulders. He regressed."

As we’ve discussed ad nauseum, Rodgers had a lot of other issues on his plate. The loss of Jordy Nelson took away his best deep threat and timing partner to pick up quick first downs. Receivers didn’t get separation, and dropped balls. The offensive line was a permeable membrane. But, as McGinn said, Rodgers noticeably missed throws that we’ve grown accustomed to seeing him hit.

Cam Newton was the beneficiary of a better offensive line, and a more formidable defense, but he also lost his best receiver in Kelvin Benjamin before the season. Greg Olsen is a solid tight end, but you didn’t think of him as elite before this season, and the rest of the Panthers’ wideouts—Ted Ginn, Jericho Cotchery, Devin Funchess, and Corey Brown—hardly constitute a murderer’s row.

Newton’s swagger, which has rubbed many the wrong way, has clearly been a positive intangible for this Panthers team, which comes out of the gate and just swarms you like hyenas on a carcass. It’s taken awhile for everybody to catch on to that, but Sunday’s near 50 burger on Arizona had to convince just about every doubter left out there.

As a Packers fan, it pains me to say this, and trust me I would love NOTHING more than to have this shoved back in my face next season, I think you’d have to go with Cam Newton right now. Russell Wilson, who emerged as a vastly improved pocket passer this season, would also have to be in the conversation, but I think I’d still both choose Newton and Rodgers over him right now.