Cam Newton, Chargers Are Best Fit and 'Built to Win,' Says ESPN's Dan Orlovsky

The Los Angeles Chargers were reported by NFL Network's Ian Rapoport last week to be "moving forward with Tyrod Taylor" at quarterback after Tom Brady opted to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

ESPN's Dan Orlovsky thinks they should reconsider now that Cam Newton is a free agent:

"If you're the Chargers and you wanna draft a young quarterback, you can still do that and sign Cam Newton," Orlovsky said on ESPN's Get Up Wednesday morning. "Because if you get any type of 2018 version of Cam Newton, all the sudden you're a contender."

Newton was released by the Carolina Panthers on Tuesday. The move came one week after the team announced it had granted the 2015 AP NFL MVP permission to seek a trade, though Newton claimed he "never asked for it":

The Athletic's Jourdan Rodrigue reported last Wednesday that the Panthers were struggling to find a trade partner for their 2011 top overall pick and "multiple" anonymous sources expected Newton to instead be released "very soon."

Newton responded to his release with an Instagram post captioned, "I'm FREE and HUNGRY!! No PITY party just WORK."

The 30-year-old's health as been concerning in recent years, none more than last season. Newton suffered a Lisfranc injury in his left foot during the 2019 preseason, which resulted in his regular season ending after the first two games. He underwent surgery in December.

Prior to that, Newton had two surgeries performed on his throwing shoulder—the first to repair a partially torn rotator cuff in March 2017, while the second was an arthroscopic procedure in January 2019.

To Orlovsky's point about how appealing a healthy Newton should be to the Chargers, Rapoport reported on Tuesday that L.A. was uninterested in trading for him:

The Chargers were thrown into the market for a quarterback when 38-year-old Philip Rivers departed for the Indianapolis Colts in free agency. L.A. was reported to have offered Brady $30 million or more, but he chose the Bucs.

Should the Chargers stick to their alleged plan to start Taylor under center in 2020, they will be getting a 30-year-old with a 23-21-1 career record as well as 9,562 yards, 54 touchdowns and 20 interceptions to his name.

The Chargers also own the No. 6 overall pick in next month's draft, and Bleacher Report's Matt Miller most recently projected them to select quarterback Justin Herbert out of Oregon.