Cam Newton is no stranger to excellent rookie quarterbacking.
After the Carolina Panthers drafted him No. 1 overall in the 2011 NFL draft, Newton tore through the league with 4,000 passing yards in addition to 14 rushing touchdowns on his way to NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. It was the start of a career that would later include NFL MVP in 2015 and a Super Bowl run while consistently putting up gaudy numbers for Carolina.
Despite his own greatness and becoming the first rookie quarterback to ever throw for 4,000 yards in a rookie season, Newton doesn’t believe the best campaign ever was his own. He met with Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud to give him that credit in Las Vegas.
"I don't know anybody who had a rookie campaign that you."@CameronNewton gives fellow Rookie of the Year CJ Stroud his flowers pic.twitter.com/NIIQ9WFWXZ
— 4thand1show (@4thand1show) February 13, 2024
“I don’t know nobody that really had a better rookie campaign than you.” Newton said before Stroud interjected that it was debatable.
After, Newton explained the difference was that, “We didn’t make it to the playoffs, we didn’t win. You won and you made it look sexy, you were standing on business. It wasn’t even your performance as much as you defying the odds. You did it with so much class, so much grace.”
Newton later complimented Stroud on showing out against the Georgia Bulldogs and SEC competition a year earlier in the College Football Playoff, which was no surprise considering how Newton played for the Auburn Tigers. He credited Stroud for carrying that momentum into turning around the Texans franchise and winning Offensive Rookie of the Year.
It is yet another former player bringing well deserved high praise of Stroud after a phenomenal year. Nobody is as recently removed from the game as Newton, so his praise rings even stronger as someone who was quarterbacking at an MVP level not too long ago.
Newton will have to watch if Bryce Young, his successor in Carolina and the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL draft one selection before Stroud, can find that type of success as well moving forward. Meanwhile, the Texans franchise quarterback will have to carry all this good will into what many hope could be a Super Bowl run in 2024.
