The Washington Football Team made a pivot on Dwayne Haskins as their starting quarterback. Head coach Ron Rivera made the call to bench Haskins in favor of Kyle Allen ahead of Week 5. Additionally, Haskins was bumped down to No. 3 on the depth chart as Alex Smith, who missed all of 2019 season with a horrific leg injury, was promoted to the No. 2 quarterback.
How did Haskins fall so far from starter to third on the depth chart?
A lack of preparation and poor practice habits were factors in Haskins’ benching, according to Les Carpenter of the Washington Post.
Inside the teamās practice facility, momentum for the move had been growing, a person with knowledge of the situation said, in part because Haskins had fallen into poor study and practice habits. The person said Haskinsā lack of preparation was hurting him in games, leading to overthrown passes and missed opportunities to hit open receivers.
Concerns grew over Haskins’ preparation and work ethic. Complacency appeared to set in with the second-year quarterback. The players noticed as well.
Rivera said on Wednesday, he saw the players’ frustration on the sidelines during games as the players want to win.
According to the Washington Post, at least one player pushed Haskins to work harder, noting that Alex Smith, who was inactive for each of the first four games of the season, had been arriving to the facility earlier than Haskins and preparing better. Yet, Haskins’ work ethics didn’t change.
It’s a total opposite of how he worked this off-season that earned him Washington’s starting quarterback spot to start the season. He drew praise from Rivera, the coaching staff and teammates during training camp.
But as the regular season started, with no preseason due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Haskins struggled on the field week-after-week, culminating with a three-interception game against the Cleveland Browns in Week 3. Rivera first backed his QB after the game, but that support waned shortly afterwards and reports surfaced of his impending benching leading into last week’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
Rivera said the benching was “not an indictment” of Haskins. However, the current standings of the lowly NFC East lead him to turn to Allen, who is more familiar and had better success in offensive coordinator Scott Turner’s system, playing the previous two seasons under him with the Carolina Panthers.
“I’d be stupid not to” make a switch at quarterback Rivera said given the fact Washington is just one-half game behind first-place Philadelphia despite having a 1-3 record.
Rivera suggested the benching was not the end of Haskins in Washington. But presumably, it would be pretty hard to go back to the 23-year old after sending him from starter to third on the depth chart and potentially being inactive during games.
Haskins has two years remaining after this season on his rookie contract. He has time to turn around his NFL career that has got off to a rocky start in his first two seasons. But, Haskins must do some self-assessment first, if he is to gain the full support of his NFL head coach that he seemingly has yet to get.
