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Former No. 15 overall quarterback Dwayne Haskins only spent two seasons with the Washington football team before his release. Having a new head coach who didn’t select him to take over the franchise in his second season didn’t help matters, but Haskins’ play on and off the pitch also played into his release.
Haskins went 1-5 as a starter in 2020 and completed 61.4% of his passes for 1,439 yards, five touchdowns and seven interceptions. In a recent podcast interview with FS1’s Colin Cowherd, Washington head coach Ron Rivera spoke about the franchise’s decision to release Haskins. While admitting that Haskins was talented, he said the former Ohio State star struggled to “prioritize” and felt something was preventing him from taking his game to the next level.
“You know what? I tried to get along with him,” Rivera said to Cowherd, according to Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post. “He’s a very talented player. He has an NFL arm, a legitimate arm, and there’s a part of him that he wants, but something keeps getting in the way. I don’t know what that is. that was, and that was the hardest part because he takes a long time, and then he doesn’t. And you ask yourself, “Where is he? What is he doing? “You see him there and you say” OK “and then you don’t see him. So I think what he needs to do is prioritize. The kid, like I did. says he’s talented, and if he ever does figure it out, he’s going to have an impact. “
The events leading up to Haskins’ release in December support Rivera’s thoughts. After Alex Smith injured his calf, Haskins was reinserted into the starting lineup in Week 15 for Washington’s game against the Seattle Seahawks. In the 20-15 loss, Haskins threw for 295 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, and unfortunately made the headlines with what he did after the final whistle.
Haskins was seen in what would have been an exotic club wearing no mask, which was a blatant violation of COVID-19 protocols. He apologized to his teammates for his mistake, and was fined and stripped of his captain title. Haskins then had another chance to start and potentially clinch an NFC East title in Week 16 against Rivera’s former team in the Carolina Panthers, but he threw just 154 yards and two interceptions before d ‘being benched for Taylor Heinicke in the second half. Less than 24 hours later, Haskins was released.
In January, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed a one-year contract with Haskins. General manager Kevin Colbert is optimistic about the signing and says the Steelers gave Haskins a high draft score when he was out of college.
“We’re excited to see what Dwayne can do with us,” said Colbert. “It didn’t work out for him in Washington. We got high marks on Dwayne coming from the state of Ohio. He was picked much higher than we were able to make that decision. … He’s a talented young quarterback that we can’t wait to see what he can do once he gets here and works with us. “
There’s no doubt that Haskins could have done more for himself on and off the pitch in his first two seasons, but he really has his entire career ahead of him. If he can learn from his mistakes and “prioritize” as Rivera said, Haskins could end up showing the NFL world why he was considered one of the top signalers in the 2019 NFL Draft.
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