Is Cam Newton now a must-add stash in fantasy football?

Cam Newton is expected to return to practice next week, so is a must-add stash for fantasy football owners?

The Carolina Panthers won their fourth straight game with Kyle Allen starting under center in Week 6, and they’re 4-2 heading into a bye week. Cam Newton has been out with a foot injury, but on Monday ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Newton is expected to return to practice when the Panthers come out of their bye.

Apart from the team’s perfect win-loss record since he’s been out, and the accelerating debate over who Carolina’s starting quarterback will be when Newton is healthy, Allen has been a startable fantasy quarterback from Week 3-Week 6 (QB17 over that span).

On the surface, with five top-five finishes as a fantasy quarterback in his career, Newton had a down year in 2018. He was shut down for the final two games due to a shoulder issue, but still finished as QB12 in fantasy. Remove Week 17, and he was QB10. Going even further, take his per game average and project it with two more games and he would have finished as QB6 including Week 17 and QB4 with the cutoff at Week 16.

During Carolina’s 6-2 start in 2018, prior to the shoulder becoming a prominent problem, Newton completed 67.3 percent of his passes with 15 touchdowns and four interceptions along with 342 rushing yards and four more scores. From Week 1-Week 9, spanning those eight games, he was QB4 in fantasy.

In the wake of his foot injury, and major uncertainty about when (or if) he would return this season, Newton was dropped in a lot of fantasy leagues. So he’s currently owned in just 46 percent of Yahoo! leagues, and 49.5 percent of ESPN leagues.

Assuming his foot, and his shoulder for that matter, are right, Newton has unrivaled fantasy upside among quarterbacks this side of Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson and Lamar Jackson. Health is going to be the key question, and if he’s not named the starter for Week 8 against the San Francisco 49ers that will be a sign the Panthers don’t think he’s quite back to full strength.

Bye weeks are going to really get rolling, with at least four teams idle in five of the next six weeks. So adding Newton this week, without absolute clarity on when or if he’ll play, is a hard move for fantasy owners to consider. But as a high-upside stash, while shedding an extra player you might never actually use at another position (even in the depth of bye weeks), it’s worth checking on Newton’s availability in your league and making the move to get him.