Washington Redskins
Like the Patriots, the Redskins head into 2020 with a 2019 rookie quarterback who hasn’t quite figured it out yet. Last season, 15th overall pick Dwayne Haskins completed just 58.6% of his passes, throwing seven touchdowns to seven interceptions, and looking outmatches against advanced defensive concepts, much like he did at Ohio State.
Where it gets interesting, of course, is that Ron Rivera is Washington’s new head coach. Rivera became the Panthers’ head coach in 2011, the same year Carolina selected Newton with the first overall pick in the draft. Rivera knows Newton as well as anyone from a performance and schematic perspective. And Scott Turner, Washington’s offensive coordinator, was the Panthers’ quarterbacks coach in 2018 and 2019.
“You know, the thing about Cam really is the situation,” Rivera recently said. “We’re in a situation where we’ve got two really young quarterbacks, one that’s been with us, been in the system, understands how we want things done and the other one is a guy who was taken last year in the first round and shows some promise.”
Right now, that’s Haskins and Kyle Allen, who replaced Newton last year with decent results. But if the quarterback situation in the nation’s capital doesn’t improve early in the 2020 season, Rivera may find the Newton idea to be more appealing.