Philip Rivers to the Redskins rumors make no sense

The Washington Redskins have been increasingly tied to quarterbacks in recent weeks. But the latest rumors of the team being interested in Philip Rivers make little to no sense.

The Washington Redskins spent a first-round pick on a quarterback last offseason. But that hasn’t stopped them from being tied to quarterbacks this offseason. And while the likely outcome is still the team sticking with Dwayne Haskins, the quarterback rumblings need to be monitored.

That said, the latest rumors surrounding the team’s quarterback situation is… surprising, to say the least.

According to Pro Football Network’s Tony Pauline, sources expect the Redskins to make a run at Philip Rivers. Here’s what Pauline said about that possibility in a recent piece.

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"While expectations have the Indianapolis Colts ending up with Philip Rivers, sources at the Combine tell me they expect the Washington Redskins to make a bid for the quarterback. The same sources say it will be tough for Washington to sign Rivers and it will likely take a massive contract."

Not that I’m doubting Pauline’s work, but this makes little to no sense. Why would the Redskins want to overpay for a 38-year-old quarterback like Rivers? He would be an upgrade at the position, but he doesn’t fit their timeline for being competitive at all. The ‘Skins should be better than they were last year at 3-13, but even with Rivers at the helm, they wouldn’t be a Super Bowl contender without some other significant upgrades.

If Rivers is eating up salary cap space, which he surely would, the Redskins would be hard-pressed to make the other necessary upgrades to their team. If they re-sign their key free agents in Brandon Scherff, Ereck Flowers, and land Rivers, they would still have salary cap space. But they probably would only be able to target one more upgrade, whereas if they pass on Rivers, they could upgrade a number of different positions with about $60 million in cap space.

And the Redskins already have Alex Smith as a highly-paid quarterback on their roster. He’s set to have a $21 million cap hit in 2020 and it would be difficult to trade him, especially considering that nobody knows if Smith will be healthy enough to play this season. Perhaps the right team would want to take a chance on him, but it’s more probable than not that he’d remain with the ‘Skins.

It would make far more sense for the Redskins to keep Smith as a backup and have Dwayne Haskins start the year at quarterback. And if the team really, truly doesn’t believe in Haskins — they have been increasingly tied to quarterbacks, though that could be a smokescreen — they’d be better served to draft a potential replacement. Tua Tagovailoa could make sense with the No. 2 pick.

In this analyst’s opinion, the Redskins would be better served to give Haskins one more year to prove himself. If it doesn’t work out, they can then look to draft a quarterback in the 2021 class, which looks strong on paper, much like the 2020 class. But the 2020 offseason should be spent building up the team outside of the quarterback position.

No matter how you look at it though, Rivers doesn’t make sense for Washington. He should go to a contender. A team ready to win now. The Indianapolis Colts would make sense as would the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are a sleeper team heading into the 2020 season if they can upgrade their defense and quarterback play.

dark. Next. Redskins interested in CB James Bradberry

But the Redskins? It just doesn’t make sense for either the team or the player.

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