Heading into Week 2 only one NFL team is in a deeper hole at the quarterback position than the Atlanta Falcons. At this point you can barely count the Cleveland Browns, so the Falcons are practically in a realm of mediocrity all their own when it comes to the most important position in the game.
Right now it appears that Cooper Rush will be starting for the Falcons again this week against the Carolina Panthers. Rush played poorly last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the only other healthy option on their roster is undrafted rookie Jack Strand.
Clearly the Falcons could use an upgrade - and a former division rivals says he can do better than Rush. Here's the message Cam Newton sent to Atlanta earlier this week.
"Y’all overlook me,” Newton
said earlier this week. “I want to at least say nah, I’m good. My phone ain’t ring in five years... Somebody gonna put in the comments, ‘Y’all acting like Cam Newton gonna carry the Falcons to the Super Bowl... I wasn’t asked to carry a team. (The Colts) didn’t ask Philip Rivers to carry a team. They just said manage it. I mean damn, I can do better than Cooper Rush. He ain’t even QB2. He’s QB-who? At some point, call it how it is. Y’all really think that low of me that I can’t go out there and ball? Wake up. Wake up.”
Newton hasn't played in a live game since the 2021 season, when he went 0-5 in a brief return to the Panthers under former head coach Matt Rhule. Newton technically still has not retired, hoping to get one more shot to play.
While he's probably correct that he could do better than Rush did in Week 1, that's an extremely low bar to hurdle.
If the Falcons are going to pull a desperation move at QB and bring someone in off the street, they already have a far better option in their own front office. Matt Ryan hasn't played since 2022, but he has been actively throwing at Falcons practices since taking over as president of football earlier this year.
This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: Cam Newton sends a message to the Falcons
