Dwayne Haskins Clears Waivers, So Where Will He End Up?
Washington released quarterback Dwayne Haskins yesterday, and now he's officially cleared waivers. A few teams have already expressed interest in him, so let's figure out where he might end up.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
With Josh Rosen having signed with the San Francisco 49ers, the Bucs could use another quarterback. Yeah, Tom Brady looks good right now, but that's exactly why Haskins is a fit. He isn't ready to play right now, and after Booger McFarland's rant on ESPN, some time to develop would probably do him good.
Whether you agree with McFarland on this topic isn't necessarily important. The big take away from Booger is that Dwayne Haskins didn't put in the work and he underestimated how hard it would be to play in the NFL. Don't think so? Haskins echoed the same perspective in his own farewell tweet to Washington's fans over Twitter:
"My time with the WFT has unfortunately come to an end," Haskins wrote. "I thank the team and fans for the opportunity to play for the team I grew up rooting for. I take full responsibility for not meeting the standards of a NFL QB and will become a better man and players because of this experience.”
When he says, "I take full responsibility for not meeting the standards of a NFL quarterback," he means that he didn't take the job seriously enough. He over-simplified the game of football, and as McFarland put it perfectly, he treated a starting QB job in the NFL like "a game." You know who's taken the QB job title more seriously than anyone else in NFL history? Tom Brady.
He would be a solid partner for Haskins to watch in the quarterback room.
Chicago Bears
Hopefully the Bears aren't falling in love with Mitchell Trubisky and his fool's gold performances against a schedule of weak opponents. If they're watching the same quarterback we are, then they need to find another experiment. Dwayne Haskins is far from a sure bet, but there aren't many of those laying around.
Chicago has a nice team that can offer Haskins some time to figure things out.
New England Patriots
Bill Belichick and the Patriots are to quarterbacks what the New York Knicks are to NBA free agents. They're always tied to one another, but the relationship rarely works out. New England's Cam Newton trial run failed miserably, largely because of Newton's limited arm strength.
Haskins doesn't lack talent. He just makes boneheaded throws, like this one:
Maybe Belichick can help Haskins put his thinking cap on and make better reads?
Since he first arrived in Washington, Dwayne Haskins has treated the NFL like the NBA. Professional basketball players may have to work hard, but they can do the talking and walking at the same time. A perfect example of this is LeBron, D-Wade, and Chris Bosh holding a parade back in 2010 before they ever dressed out for a pre-season game together. Haskins tried to show that same type of confidence when he gave his famous "the league messed up" quote on draft night 2019. We're still laughing at that.
He thought of himself as Deion Sanders, that he could show up and be elite while shortcutting the preparation it takes to play this game well. He didn't realize that Prime did the walking in the dark before anyone ever heard him talking under the lights Friday through Sunday. Haskins needs a fresh start, and we hope he gets it somewhere.