Cam Newton Not Likely To Replace Fitzmagic In Washington

Don’t expect a reunion for Cam Newton and Ron Rivera in Washington this season.

Rivera admitted that his former Carolina quarterback “did pop up our radar” after being released from New England this week, but then doubled-down on his current quarterback room.

"Just so you know, Ryan Fitzpatrick is our starting quarterback," Rivera said. "So that's where we are. We have three guys that we like that all came to camp, did a nice job for us and we're going to go forward with those guys."

Along with Fitzpatrick, Washington currently plans to move forward with Taylor Heinicke as the backup and Kyle Allen as the third-stringer.

Although Fitzpatrick certainly can’t be considered a viable multi-year option for Washington, Newton has also showed major signs of regression in his last few seasons. At this point in the process, with regular season games less than two weeks away, reinstalling the entire offense to fit Newton’s style and strengths would likely put the entire offense at risk. In other words, the move from Fitzpatrick to Newton would feel more like a lateral than a forward pass for Washington, so why go through the headache of extra work?

Time and time again, Fitzpatrick has proven himself to be a viable option to keep the team competitive until a long-term replacement can be found. Whether he struggles mightily and Washington gets a nice draft pick, or he thrives and the Football Team surprises some folks in 2021, either way, the team should be in a better place next year than this year, and to the front office of NFL teams, that’s really the ultimate goal.