Ron Rivera seemingly pushed all the right buttons during his first year as Washington Football Team had coach. Even when his moves were met with negative reactions. That included benching quarterback Dwayne Haskins after starting the first four games or trading Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams and cornerback Quinton Dunbar.
Still, there is one move Rivera regrets. Speaking with 106.7 the Fan’s Grant and Danny, the coach admits he made a mistake not holding an open quarterback competition in training camp.
“Well, what I’m saying is I made a mistake and I’m owning up to it. And that’s the truth,” Rivera said. “I mean, to put it as simple as that, yes, that’s what I’m saying. I’m just being honest.”
Washington ultimately started four different quarterbacks through the regular season and their wild card playoff loss. But not before Haskins got all the first-team reps during the seven-week training camp.
Haskins was named starting quarterback going into the 2020 season. That’s despite Washington trading for Kyle Allen, who played two seasons under Rivera and offensive coordinator Scott Turner with the Carolina Panthers.
Haskins struggled in his first four starts and with the NFC East being wide opened, Rivera made the switch to Allen. Unfortunately, Allen was sidelined with a season-ending ankle injury in his fourth start. Alex Smith became the starter and had the most success, going 5-1 as a starter, during his miraculous comeback from his 2018 leg injury. Washington ultimately won the division with a 7-9 record.
“I think the biggest thing I would have done was I would have created a few more opportunities mixing everybody around, as opposed to saying, okay, I’m gonna stick with just the one guy and do that,” Rivera added. “I think now in retrospect — and again, hindsight is 20/20 — I would, and it’s something that I’m gonna chalk up as an experience. You know, you learn from experience. And if I ever get in this situation again, I will look to do it differently.”
Haskins was ultimately released after a Week 16 loss due to poor play and off-field distractions. Smith’s latest calf injury thrust Taylor Heinicke, who the team signed last month, to start in Saturday’s playoff loss to Tampa Bay.
It was a musical chair that could have played out much better and prevented Washington’s early-season struggles if there was an open competition during training camp. Nonetheless, it’s not often an NFL head coach will admit to such a mistake publicly. Rivera’s self-assessment speaks to the culture change in Washington.
