Ron Rivera Doesn't Sound Interested In Adding Cam Newton In Washington, After Ryan Fitzpatrick Goes On IR
BOSTON (CBS) -- As soon as Washington starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick went down with an injury on Sunday afternoon, a number of football minds wondered if a reunion would be in store for head coach Ron Rivera and quarterback Cam Newton.
For now, that doesn't appear to be in the cards.
Rivera met with the media on Monday and announced that Fitzpatrick would be going on injured reserve due to a hip subluxation. Whether that absence is short term or long term is not yet known. In the meanwhile, Washington will start Taylor Heinicke, with Kyle Allen as the backup and Kyle Shurmur joining the practice squad.
Asked if the team will be signing any other quarterbacks, Rivera said the answer is no. For now.
"No. As of now, no," Rivera said. "We've got a short week, and we'll go through the week, and we'll go from there."
As Rivera noted, Washington plays on Thursday Night Football this week, so there's certainly not enough turnaround time to onboard a new QB and have him play so soon. The flip side of that is that Washington has more than a week between games if the team did want to add a quarterback before Week 3.
Of course, Washington already had a chance to sign Newton, after the Patriots released the 32-year-old QB on Aug. 31. At the time, though, Washington had Fitzpatrick as its starter. If Fitzpatrick's injury requires him to miss months, and if Heinicke struggles, things could always change.
Rivera and Newton will always be tied together, as Rivera's first season as head coach coincided with Newton's rookie year in Carolina.
It's unknown if Newton's vaccination status has changed since the end of his Patriots tenure, but if he is not yet fully vaccinated, that could also create a hurdle in his quest to join a new team. Rivera -- who battled cancer last year -- expressed frustration at his team's vaccination level over the summer.