Washington head coach Ron Rivera said Wednesday that it was a “very bold move” for the Carolina Panthers to bring Cam Newton back and that he thought it was “kind of cool” that it was working out as well as it has so far.
Rivera drafted Newton No. 1 overall in the 2011 draft, and the two were linked as coach and quarterback for the next nine years with Carolina. Rivera, the winningest coach in Panther history, got fired with four games left in the 2019 season and was quickly hired at Washington.
The coach returns to Bank of America Stadium for the first time since then on Sunday with the Washington Football Team. And, in an odd twist, he and his staff are trying to scheme up a defense that would be effective against his old QB.
“I saw some of the plays they ran,” Rivera said in a conference call with Charlotte-area reporters Wednesday, referring to Newton’s limited but effective work against Arizona in Carolina’s 34-10 win. “I saw some of the stuff that we had done with him, and saw them (the Panthers) doing some similar things. That was kind of cool. Those are some of the things that Cam does really well. We’re trying to guess and figure out what else they’re going to do with him.”
Washington faced Newton in the 2021 preseason when the quarterback was still with New England, so Rivera said he already had had “a little taste” of preparing for Newton on the opposing sideline. And, of course, the coach saw Newton in practice for nine seasons, as Newton led the Panthers to three straight NFC South championships and the 2015 Super Bowl.
“It’s a very bold move, what they did,” Rivera said, speaking of the Panthers (5-5) signing Newton last week. “They have some talent. They’re a good young football team that’s growing.”
Rivera also said of Newton: “He’s such an iconic figure for me personally, because we are connected a little bit. He was our first pick of the first pick of the 2011 draft and went on to be a rookie of the year and a league MVP. So, to a degree, I’m tied to him.”
In a separate interview with The Observer on Wednesday, Rivera said that he harbored no bitterness toward Carolina owner David Tepper for firing him with four games left in the 2019 season and that he considered that firing to be “all business.”
Said Rivera of Tepper: “He was always up front with me and he was honest. … He told me, ‘Ron, it’s not personal.’ And it wasn’t.”
Rivera also said he appreciated that when he asked to do a final press conference after being fired that Tepper allowed him to, and that Tepper and his wife were particularly kind while Rivera was battling cancer last year.
Rivera also said in The Observer interview that the Washington Football Team did once consider hiring Newton as a quarterback, particularly before the 2020 season, but that at the time the coach wanted to give young QB Dwayne Haskins the opportunity to emerge without a strong personality like Newton also in the building.
That didn’t work out well, though, as WFT ultimately released Haskins in late 2020 after he didn’t play well and repeatedly breached COVID-19 protocols.
Washington, 3-6 this season but coming off a surprising win over defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay, will start former Panther quarterback Taylor Heinicke on Sunday against Carolina.
