Recency bias is a real thing.

How quickly we forget that Cam Newton was the NFL MVP just two years ago. All of a sudden, after a down year last season, the media seems to have moved on and is focused on the next big thing on the Carolina Panthers’ roster: Rookie running back Christian McCaffrey.

McCaffrey, the standout running back first at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, Colo., then at Stanford University for the Cardinal, turns heads pretty much everywhere he goes. This includes the practice field at the Panthers’ facilities, much to the (joking) chagrin of Newton.

Newton may be excited for the new dimension McCaffrey can bring to the Panthers’ offense this season, but the former No. 1 overall pick is not ready to fully pass the torch of media darling.

All joking aside, the Panthers are looking ready to return to the form that took them all the way to the Super Bowl in 2015. With the addition of McCaffrey, they get a multidimensional back that can do pretty much everything on the field. This, in addition to Cam Newton getting his injured shoulder taken care of in the offseason seems like a winning combination.

The Panthers, of course, only got so far in 2015 during Cam’s MVP campaign. Everyone remembers what happened in the Super Bowl that year.

The Broncos are hoping to return to their 2015 form as well. A Carolina-Denver rematch Super Bowl LII would be an interesting storyline with callbacks to 2015 plus an added dimension of McCaffrey, the Colorado native, playing against his hometown team (with whom his father, Ed McCaffrey, won two Super Bowls and cemented his legacy as a top wide receiver).

That dream is still a ways off, however. Right now, McCaffrey is still learning the ropes of life in the NFL – like when to let Cam Newton speak first.