Cam Newton: Historic Debut Points to Bright Future

I think we can say that Cam Newton is going to adjust just fine to this NFL thing. Newton was supposed to be facing a long learning curve when it came to picking up an NFL passing offense. That curve now looks a lot more like a straightaway.

Newton announced his presence in the NFL by becoming the first rookie to ever eclipse 400-yards passing in his first start.

Newton was 24-of-37 with 422 yards, including two touchdowns and just one interception. Those numbers were good enough for a 110.4 passer rating. Simply staggering.

It is clear this guy is now a legitimate threat to dominate the NFL—especially considering Newton's rapid ascension.

It was just over a year ago when Newton was preparing to make his first start in major college football. He did so with relative ease. However, he made his starts in a spread offense that utilized his tremendous running skills and limited the amount of reads and throws he had to make as a QB.

Newton entered the NFL having never been asked to master anything close to the complexities of an NFL system. It seemed like it would be asking far too much of Newton to start at anytime in his first season—especially considering that the NFL lockout stripped Newton of any chance to work on adapting to an NFL system in OTAs. Newton hit training camp with roughly three fewer weeks' worth of practice repetitions than almost any rookie NFL QB that came before him.

Also, not only was Newton running shy on reps, but his entire team was. This is a Carolina team that is adjusting to a new coach and a new offensive system.

These facts made Newton being named the starting QB for Week 1 seem like a recipe for disaster.

I guess someone forgot to tell Cam Newton all of this. He is now coming off as an impressive rookie debut as the league has ever seen. The most impressive part of his performance was his efficiency—24-of-37 seemed like accuracy numbers that would be out of reach for Newton in his rookie season, and it is not like Newton did this with a bunch of dump-offs.

Philip Rivers led the NFL in yards per pass attempt in 2010 at 8.71. Newton just shattered that mark by posting 11.4 yards per pass attempt. 

While it is certainly unreasonable to suggest that Newton can keep up anything near this pace for an entire season, it is now equally unreasonable to suggest that Newton will not be able to make the transition to the NFL.