Getting production at the quarterback position is essential to success in both season-long and daily fantasy football. Over recent years we’ve watched players across the league put up epic numbers through the air. What goes unnoticed far too often though is the value rushing statistics have on the production of a fantasy signal-caller.
The math is simple. In most cases, quarterback rushing yards are worth 2.5 times more than quarterback passing yards. In some leagues, rushing touchdowns are six points while passing scores go for four points. In those leagues, six rushing touchdowns are equivalent to nine passing touchdowns.
Look no further than Cam Newton’s 2015 MVP campaign, where he led the Panthers and fantasy owners alike to league title games. Despite finishing 16th in passing yards, he finished as fantasy’s top-scoring quarterback. Newton’s 636 yards on the ground (63.6 fantasy points) compared to 1,600 yards passing.
Last year, Newton saw his rushing production decrease significantly and his fantasy stock plummeted right along with it, as he finished as the season as the QB17. He became the first quarterback since Michael Vick (2010-11) to finish the season as fantasy’s top scorer only to fall out of the top 10 at the position the following year. The dip was due to career lows in rushing attempts (90), rushing yards (359), and yards per carry (4.0).
He averaged 6.0 designed rush attempts per game in 2016, also the lowest of his six-year career. With Panthers’ head coach Ron Rivera on record saying he wants to limit Newton’s carries even more going forward, we may never see the dual-threat quarterback return to the rushing production that made him elite.
Newton wasn’t the only quarterback to fall off in rushing last year. We saw the top five rushing quarterbacks produce at their lowest clip since 2010:
Top five rushing quarterback averages (2007-2016)
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