By Dan O’Shea
This column is not about Tim Tebow.
If you’re still reading, it is about a QB who has passed for more yards than Aaron Rodgers, has more total TDs than Tom Brady or Drew Brees, and who has run for yards than any QB except Michael Vick.
Cam Newton, QB, Carolina, is my choice for fantasy football MVP for the season’s first half.
Newton has passed for 2,393 yards so far, 20 more than Rodgers, though you are right in assuming Rodgers has had his bye week already, and Newton’s doesn’t come until this week. Still.
Newton has 18 total TDs, seven of them on the run, and has 319 yards rushing, with Vick about 100 ahead, and none other than Tebow about 150 behind. It goes without saying that Newton also was the best rookie of the first half.
Newton started the season with blowout stats, passing for more than 400 yards two weeks in a row. We all expected him to cool down after that, and he did, but only a little.
And, in some ways, he got better as he ended the first half with no INTs in his last eight quarters.
It’s hard to say if Newton can put up fantasy MVP stats the rest of the season, but looking ahead to next year and barring a major collapse, Newton could easily graduate to become a second-round fantasy pick next year, and a top seven QB.
Here are the rest of my first half favorites:
RB: LeSean McCoy, Philadelphia.
More resilient than Arian Foster and simply more productive than Adrian Peterson, with 754 yards rushing and 10 TDs thus far.
WR: Calvin Johnson, Detroit.
Eleven TDs receiving does it for me, though this is the toughest category, with Steve Smith, Carolina, closing in on 1,000 yards, thanks to Newton.
TE: Jimmy Graham, New Orleans.
Still a bit of a sleeper when the season starter, he became the Saints’ top receiver after Marques Colston was injured.
K: Jason Hanson, Detroit.
Twenty-six PATs and 16 FGs, including four from 50-plus yards.
DEF: Baltimore Ravens.
Ray Lewis and company still bring the pain every game. Fewest points allowed, most sacks, enough said, though San Francisco gets an honorable mention.
IDP: Jared Allen, Minnesota.
Thirteen sacks in eight games has people once again talking about Allen as a one-man wrecking crew.
Expert Wire
* Bleacher Report urges you to start LaGarrette Blount, RB, Tampa, even though he’s just returning from injury, essentially because he’s now the only backfield option for Tampa.
* Yahoo! Sports recommends starting the Dallas defense the week after it was pasted for 34 points, mainly because of the match-up against woeful Seattle.
* Yahoo! Pickups of the Week suggests Javon Ringer, RB, Tennessee, for those of you who have finally given up on Chris Johnson.
* The Cover Two likes fast-rising Steeler WR Antonio Brown, who shockingly appears to be taking catches away from Mike Wallace.
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Dashing Dan O’Shea welcomes your comments.
Posted on November 2, 2011