It’s rare that a first-round pick falls out of favor as quickly as Dwayne Haskins did in Washington. While it may have been a surprise to outsiders, it certainly sounds like Haskins somewhat saw it coming.
Now with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Haskins reflected on his exit from the Washington Football Team on thursday. The No. 15 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft admitted that his midseason release in 2020 had not come out of the blue to him.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say I was surprised,” Haskins said, via Kevin Patra of NFL.com. “It’s just a part of the business. Wasn’t necessarily the people that, you know, were brought in by the new coaching staff and understanding that this is a business and realizing that as the season went on that things weren’t going the way that we both wanted it to.
“Just grateful for the opportunity Washington gave me, but it wasn’t completely surprising, but it was also definitely unfortunate to be able to be released the way that I was.”
Haskins was anointed Washington’s starting quarterback for 2020. He didn’t play well and didn’t help his cause with some irresponsible behavior. Another report indicated that Haskins had a multitude of behind-the-scenes issues that never got sorted out prior to his abrupt release in December.
Haskins is getting another shot with the Steelers. If this one isn’t a success, he may quickly find himself left behind by NFL teams, so he’d better get this one right.
