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Ryan Fitzpatrick signed a $10 million deal to become Washington Football Team's starting quarterback this offseason, and he's talked about 2021 as an opportunity to enter the year as the unquestioned No. 1. But don't tell that to Ron Rivera. Not only did the head coach say in the spring that "there will be a competition" for Fitzpatrick's job, but now, just over two weeks ahead of Washington's season opener, Rivera has refused to commit to Fitzpatrick as the club's Week 1 starter.

"There'll be a proper moment when I sit down and talk about the guys that are going to start for this team, but that'll be a moment for us, for the team," Rivera said this week, per ProFootballTalk. "I like to do that. I like to let the guys know who is our starter. I think that's important. I've been in some situations (like) Cam Newton's first year, and when it was time, I got in front of the team and told him he was going to be our guy. I think that's something that I need to tell everybody as opposed to it leaking out."

That doesn't mean Rivera hasn't already decided Fitzpatrick will open the year under center. But it suggests the coach has yet to inform the team that he's done so. If that's the case, the coach clearly wasn't joking about a competition, regardless of Fitzpatrick's expectations or the presumptions of his teammates.

"He's going to come in as the No. 1, but there will be a competition," Rivera told reporters back in April. "We want to play the best football player, obviously, that gives us the best opportunity to win. We feel very comfortable and very confident in the guys that we have. Ryan gives us a completely different type of football player. We're excited about who we can become as a football team."

All signs still point to Fitzpatrick getting the official nod over Taylor Heinicke, who parlayed an emergency 2020 playoff start into a two-year, $8.75 million extension this offseason. The 38-year-old Fitzpatrick, who started 20 games for the Dolphins from 2019-2020, will play for his ninth NFL team when he debuts for Washington in September.

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