Kelvin Benjamin

Panthers beat writer David Newton on Cam Newton's budding relationship with WR Kelvin Benjamin:

It happens all the time. A kid goes to summer camp and runs into somebody he hits it off with from the get-go. They become best buddies, inseparable.

That's the image I got recently as Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton and rookie wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin sat across from each other at lunch. Nobody else was at the table. They were so engaged in conversation it was like nobody else in the noisy room existed.

It's the same way during practice. They're almost always side by side during stretching. They're often side by side when the second, third and fourth teams are running drills.

At times it seems the only time they separate is when Benjamin is running a route, and more times than not he's seemingly on the other end of a Newton pass.

It's a fluff piece, for sure, but it's good to hear that Benjamin is already close with his QB. It should ease the transition from college and ensure that he sees a good number of targets, especially in the redzone. Trust goes a long way. Benjamin has climbed in our rankings while having a very strong camp.