Since entering the league in 2011, Cam Newton has been one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL. But you wouldn’t know it if you looked at his completion percentage, which ranks as just the 36th best out of the 40 passers with the most attempts since the start of 2011 through week 3 of 2018.
In the past, I have offered up the idea that, in some instances, it may be appropriate to consider categorizing rushing attempts as equivalent to pass attempts completed to the quarterback. There are a couple of reasons for that. One, a mobile quarterback may scramble while an immobile quarterback would throw a check down to a running back; in other words, the plays are equivalent, but the immobile quarterback will have his completion percentage increased. Two, the perceived benefit to a quarterback with a high completion percentage is lower variability; rushing plays have lower variability, too, so labeling a rushing attempt as a pass to the quarterback helps reflect that.
One issue with this, though, is you need to remove kneels from the data. Thanks to Bryan Frye, we can do that. Let’s look at Newton. Since 2011, he’s completed 2,065 passes out of 3,515 attempts, a 58.7% completion rate. But he also had 783 carries for 4,545 yards (after removing kneels); if you count those as completed passes, his modified completion percentage would be 66.3%. If you want, you can also label his sacks as incomplete pass attempts. That would drop him down to 62.5%.
The table below shows the 40 quarterbacks with the most pass attempts since 2011.
| Player | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Rush | RushY | Mod Cmp% | Sk | Mod Cmp% (Sk) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drew Brees | 3181 | 4601 | 69.1% | 92 | 356 | 69.7% | 199 | 66.9% |
| Peyton Manning | 1443 | 2170 | 66.5% | 19 | 12 | 66.8% | 72 | 64.7% |
| Robert Griffin | 766 | 1210 | 63.3% | 261 | 1685 | 69.8% | 123 | 64.4% |
| Russell Wilson | 1872 | 2929 | 63.9% | 502 | 3391 | 69.2% | 262 | 64.3% |
| Matt Ryan | 2815 | 4243 | 66.3% | 156 | 877 | 67.5% | 227 | 64.2% |
| Kirk Cousins | 1467 | 2235 | 65.6% | 95 | 447 | 67% | 115 | 63.9% |
| Aaron Rodgers | 2227 | 3400 | 65.5% | 265 | 1867 | 68% | 249 | 63.7% |
| Alex Smith | 2079 | 3195 | 65.1% | 334 | 2113 | 68.4% | 266 | 63.6% |
| Tony Romo | 1503 | 2265 | 66.4% | 54 | 264 | 67.1% | 142 | 63.3% |
| Tyrod Taylor | 834 | 1355 | 61.5% | 284 | 1882 | 68.2% | 142 | 62.8% |
| Ben Roethlisberger | 2490 | 3832 | 65% | 100 | 494 | 65.9% | 211 | 62.5% |
| Cam Newton | 2065 | 3515 | 58.7% | 783 | 4545 | 66.3% | 262 | 62.5% |
| Tom Brady | 2697 | 4195 | 64.3% | 147 | 461 | 65.5% | 214 | 62.4% |
| Philip Rivers | 2682 | 4145 | 64.7% | 100 | 396 | 65.5% | 243 | 62% |
| Marcus Mariota | 808 | 1308 | 61.8% | 140 | 1005 | 65.5% | 89 | 61.7% |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick | 1810 | 2975 | 60.8% | 261 | 1416 | 64% | 144 | 61.3% |
| Andy Dalton | 2291 | 3672 | 62.4% | 243 | 1158 | 64.7% | 224 | 61.2% |
| Carson Wentz | 669 | 1084 | 61.7% | 90 | 484 | 64.7% | 66 | 61.2% |
| Colin Kaepernick | 1011 | 1692 | 59.8% | 328 | 2351 | 66.3% | 171 | 61.1% |
| Derek Carr | 1463 | 2358 | 62% | 81 | 424 | 63.3% | 96 | 60.9% |
| Matthew Stafford | 2835 | 4512 | 62.8% | 182 | 929 | 64.3% | 264 | 60.9% |
| Ryan Tannehill | 1707 | 2711 | 63% | 176 | 1191 | 65.2% | 219 | 60.6% |
| Case Keenum | 845 | 1366 | 61.9% | 68 | 372 | 63.7% | 76 | 60.5% |
| Sam Bradford | 1501 | 2377 | 63.1% | 67 | 333 | 64.2% | 162 | 60.2% |
| Jay Cutler | 1689 | 2713 | 62.3% | 126 | 904 | 63.9% | 184 | 60% |
| Matt Schaub | 805 | 1287 | 62.5% | 23 | 60 | 63.2% | 70 | 60% |
| Jameis Winston | 939 | 1544 | 60.8% | 110 | 555 | 63.4% | 95 | 60% |
| Michael Vick | 638 | 1102 | 57.9% | 194 | 1505 | 64.2% | 95 | 59.8% |
| Joe Flacco | 2471 | 4004 | 61.7% | 126 | 541 | 62.9% | 216 | 59.8% |
| Josh McCown | 911 | 1460 | 62.4% | 93 | 527 | 64.6% | 134 | 59.5% |
| Carson Palmer | 1917 | 3090 | 62% | 67 | 211 | 62.8% | 180 | 59.5% |
| Andrew Luck | 1655 | 2775 | 59.6% | 221 | 1547 | 62.6% | 161 | 59.4% |
| Eli Manning | 2573 | 4174 | 61.6% | 64 | 279 | 62.2% | 205 | 59.4% |
| Nick Foles | 887 | 1468 | 60.4% | 82 | 402 | 62.5% | 85 | 59.3% |
| Blake Bortles | 1386 | 2341 | 59.2% | 213 | 1539 | 62.6% | 168 | 58.7% |
| Matt Cassel | 691 | 1174 | 58.9% | 79 | 419 | 61.5% | 90 | 57.3% |
| Brian Hoyer | 811 | 1368 | 59.3% | 39 | 127 | 60.4% | 79 | 57.2% |
| Josh Freeman | 730 | 1284 | 56.9% | 85 | 458 | 59.5% | 64 | 56.9% |
| Mark Sanchez | 821 | 1414 | 58.1% | 78 | 262 | 60.3% | 108 | 56.2% |
| Blaine Gabbert | 806 | 1442 | 55.9% | 144 | 661 | 59.9% | 136 | 55.2% |
Consider Newton vs. another former number one overall pick in Sam Bradford. Cam has a 58.7% completion rate, while Sam has a 63.1% rate. But once you include runs, Cam’s modified completion percentage is 66.3%, compared to just 64.2% for Sam, who almost never runs. And if you include sacks, Cam is at 62.5%, vs. 60% for Sam. Newton ranked 36th out of 40 passers in completion percentage but 12th in modified completion percentage (including sacks). Bradford ranked 13th in completion percentage, but drops to 24th in modified completion percentage (including sacks). And Newton even jumps Philip Rivers using this methodology.
What do you think?