Cam Newton and Washington Makes Tons of Sense
/Hope everyone is being safe and social distancing and staying home when you can. Still, go outside and get exercise and do things with your family, just make sure you are social distancing. For real.
Anyway, today I want to talk about Cam Newton. He is clearly done in Carolina. The Panthers hired a new coach, and last week they went ahead and grabbed the biggest fish on the QB market and signed Teddy Bridgewater. So the next question was, where will Newton end up?
I thought of this as well after the Panthers signed Bridgewater. I tried to think of what teams could use him. He is still young, still has a good arm, can still move and is only three years removed from a Super Bowl appearance and MVP season. I'd like to think that a good amount of teams in the NFL would want him. The first team I came up with was Chicago. Well, they went ahead and traded for Nick Foles, and they will now have one of the most boring "QB competitions" in NFL history. Miami, I guess, only wants to have a great defense, and is willing to roll with Ryan Fitzpatrick. Pittsburgh, for some reason, is sticking with their 100 year old, oft injured QB. I have no idea what the Rams are doing, but they couldn't afford Newton anyway. And Jacksonville, well, I guess they are content to be 4-12 under Gardner Minshew every season because he has some weird "cult" following in the area.
Then I saw some stories surfacing saying that Washington was interested in him. At first I scoffed. I mean, Washington has made mistake after mistake after mistake every since Dan Snyder bought the team. But something seems to be happening this offseason for them. They fired Jay Gruden, finally. He has been a mess since he was hired. He has fought with most of the star players openly. He seemed to call out any solid QB they had while he was coaching. He was never really the guy for the job. Then they replaced him with Ron Riviera. I found it puzzling, but then some stories came out that those in charge where going to let him pick his players, and run the team his way. This is a good move because their front office is not good. I think they should let the people who are in positions in the front office keep their jobs, but let the smart people, like Riviera, make the player decisions. They then cut Josh Norman who was a bust of a signing. They are finally willing to move Trent Williams, but not unless they get a big return. And they seem to be keeping important defensive pieces that Riviera can work with. Then the Newton stuff came out, and the more I thought about it, the more this makes sense. Washington has some good, young wide outs. They have an okay enough O line. I wish they had younger running backs, but maybe this is the season Derius Guice stays healthy finally. And they have a solid enough defense, like I said before. Newton also has plenty of experience playing for Riviera. I believe it is the only NFL coach he has ever played for. He has also had some great success under Riviera, which I also mentioned above.
When you sit and think, this has the potential to be a very good move. It would help, a little bit, some of the fans to forget about all the bad stuff. In that division, having a healthy Cam Newton could push them to playoff contention. The only person I feel bad for, if this is to happen, would be Dwayne Haskins. Look, I am a Wolverines fan as you all know, but I thought Haskins had the potential to be a solid NFL QB. He was very good in college, and I don't think he got much of a fair shake last year. First off, that dumbass Gruden went on record and said he didn't want to draft him, even though he was one of the better QB prospects in the draft. Gruden then proceeded to start guys like Case Keenum and Colt McCoy before injury and poor play forced his hand. Haskins didn't perform great, but he was never really given a fair shot. He was stashed on the bench by the coaching staff, didn't get much help from his skill guys, and now, well, it looks like they might take a chance on Newton, and it is the right move. Haskins may get a shot somewhere else, hopefully he does. But, when you have a chance to get a fully healthy Cam Newton, especially with his only NFL coach, I feel like that is a move you can't pass up, especially for a team like Washington.
Newton would be another good move, and would help out Washington tremendously. Now lets see if they actually do it.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.
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