Cam Newton Rumors: Ranking the LA Chargers and other potential fits
By Jason Reed
2. Cam Newton Rumors: Could Cam join the quarterback Carousel in the Capital?
The Washington Redskins have had a very interesting quarterback situation over the last two years. After Kirk Cousins signed with the Minnesota Vikings, the Washington Redskins signed Alex Smith to take over as the starter.
Smith played in 10 games for the Redskins in 2018 before fracturing his tibia and fibula, knocking him out of action for the rest of the year and all of 2019.
That led the team to go get Case Keenum, who competed for the starting job with rookie Dwayne Haskins. Neither was particularly great, Keenum started eight games and went 1-7, Haskins started seven and went 2-5 and Colt McCoy started one and went 0-1.
Keenum is gone but Smith is back, making it a two-man job for the quarterback position in 2020. However, it could be a third man job, as the Redskins are reportedly interested in bringing in the former MVP.
According to ESPN’s Matthew Berry, former Panthers head coach (and current Redskins head coach) Ron Rivera absolutely loves Newton and could be interested in trading for his former quarterback. Obviously, that ship has sailed, so seeing him sign as a free agent is even more likely as the Redskins would take on less cap.
On paper, this is perfect, and I would not be surprised to see the Panthers take a risk on Newton on a short contract to not only improve in 2020 but to mentor Haskins.
The biggest hurdle, that keeps them from being number one on this list, is that they are already paying Alex Smith $21 million to be the veteran quarterback and would not save any money by releasing him this year to sign Newton.
So while if Newton is Rivera’s guy, it is also likely that the front office sticks by the guy they traded for and the guy they drafted in Haskins rather than adding a third player to the mix just because the brand new coach likes him.