The New England Patriots made a splash with the signing of quarterback Cam Newton after he spent the bulk of the offseason as a free agent. Despite his extended stay on the market, teams lacking stability under center like the Washington Redskins never pulled the trigger on trying to bring him in.
After all, new head coach Rob Rivera had been Newton's coach during the Carolina Panthers' Super Bowl run in 2015 when the latter took home MVP honors. Rivera admitted during an appearance on 670 The Score that Washington did have some interest:
“If the circumstances had allowed us, I would not have had an issue with that … I would've been very confident and comfortable going after him and bringing him to be part of what we're doing here.”
Rivera added that the team is still optimistic about quarterback Dwayne Haskins' potential.
“That's the benefit of being a new head coach is that we can be patient … We can put these guys through workouts and get to know what we have and feel good about it or don't feel good about it. Then we have to go out and make some changes, but until we get that opportunity to know what we have, it would've been very hard to bring a guy in who's had such a solid career, who was a league MVP at one time and expect the young guy [Haskins] to get his chances to grow.”
The Patriots signed Newton to a team-friendly, $7.5-million deal for the 2020 NFL season. Although the contract includes incentives, it comes in stark contrast to some of the other deals that have been handed out this offseason.
Regardless, it appears the new regime in Washington is going to give Haskins an opportunity to establish himself as a bonafide franchise quarterback following a rough rookie campaign. If he fails to live up to Rivera's standards, they could be looking to test the market for a new signal-caller next offseason.
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