Dwayne Haskins, a first-round pick in 2019, had an uneven rookie season. He was in; he was out; he was in again. In the end, he completed 58.6 percent of his passes for 1,365 yards, seven touchdowns and seven interceptions in nine games.
But don’t let that modest stat line fool you. Many analysts believe Haskins has the makings of a franchise quarterback.
“He had told me that once he got in and was going to stay in, you would see huge leaps in his progress, and Urban Meyer, he pretty much said the same thing,” Redskins voice Larry Michael said on After Hours with Amy Lawrence. “He only played one year of college ball, and he was completely inexperienced when he came in. By the end of [2018], Ryan Day was telling [Meyer], ‘Dwayne is not going to be here next year. He’s going to go pro.’ [Meyer] was shocked Dwayne had improved that much to be considered that good of a pro prospect.”
Haskins had a rough go of it in his NFL debut. He went 9-of-17 for 107 yards, two sacks and three interceptions in a 24-3 loss to the Giants last September.
“He had a real rough game [on the road against] the New York Giants,” Michael said. “He was picked off a couple times. He didn’t look prepared to play at the speed of that game, so I thought that was an epiphany for him. The next week, he picked it up. The week after, he picked it up. Very, very smart kid. He’s got all the physical tools, but I think he’s been somewhat undersold on the fact that he is inexperienced. He’s a very fast learner. By the end of the year, I said, ‘We really have a good quarterback in Dwayne Haskins. You just need to let him improve and mature.’”
It appears Ron Rivera will do exactly that. Haskins, who turns 24 in May, has nowhere to go but up.
“I think the sky’s the limit for Dwayne,” Michael said. “You do need some more weapons around him. They brought in a couple really talented players. Antonio Gibson is the one that everybody’s excited about, and also Antonio Gandy-Golden at wide receiver – they’re some really good weapons. To add them to Terry McLaurin and Steven Sims – the running game is something they’re going to really want to rely on, and they’ve got a full running back room. I think for Dwayne, if he’s not forced to win ball games, he’s going to win a lot of ball games on this own. The defense has to carry the way, and I think that’s the way they’ve built the team.”