Cam Newton: Why Rookie QB Gives Carolina Panthers a Bright Future

It might be easy to look at the Carolina Panthers’ record and dismiss them as a threat in any given week this season, but there isn’t any one-win team in the NFL with a brighter future.

And that future’s name is Cam Newton.

The first pick by the Panthers in the 2011 draft, Newton has stepped in and become an impact player for 1-4 Carolina.

Sunday, in a 30-27 loss to the New Orleans Saints, Newton ran for one touchdown and threw for two more. And if he didn’t rack up another 400-yard game, it was because the game didn’t dictate him throwing on every play.

When he does throw, however, Steve Smith has quickly become his favorite target. Smith had three catches for 79 yards and a score Sunday, and the four-time Pro Bowler has found new life with Newton—he already owns more than half as many catches in five games as he had all last year in 14 games.

What Newton is going to have to learn is better time management control in the final two minutes of the game. Sunday saw him struggle with that, and a Hail Mary pass to Smith got knocked away as time ran out. Admittedly, the Saints had something to do with that.

Newton finished with 224 yards on 16-of-31 passing—respectable numbers, but nothing great. Still, the first-year quarterback had Carolina in position to beat a theoretically much better team in the Saints before things came up short in the final minutes.

There were questions about Newton’s ability to run a pro passing game, and five games into his career he seems to have put those naysayers to rest. There was never any problem with his credentials as a running/scrambling quarterback, though, and he’s on a tear. He’s rushed for five touchdowns in five games, a pace that would see him setting records if he keeps it up.

Newton needs more help if the Panthers are going to step it up. Carolina, which won just one game all last year, doesn’t have much of a running game. Its defense is suspect, too, having given up 28 or more points in each of its four losses.

But the Panthers are a threat to win every time Newton leads them on the field, and it seems to be just a matter of time before the wins are actual and not theoretical.