Dwayne Haskins’ list of embarrassments now include another benching, refusal to speak to media

Dwayne Haskins is running out of reasons for the NFL to take him seriously as a starting quarterback.

Last Sunday, after completing 38 of 55 passes for 295 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 72.9 in a 20-15 loss to the Seahawks, Washington Football Team quarterback Dwayne Haskins got himself in trouble by attending a “private party” maskless that got him stripped of his captaincy and fined $40,000.

“It was irresponsible and immature of me and I accept responsibility for my action,” Haskins said. “I also want to apologize for creating a distraction for my team during our playoff push. I will learn and grow from this and do what’s best for the team moving forward.”

Head coach Ron Rivera decided to keep Haskins as his starting quarterback despite the fracas, not that he had much of a choice — Alex Smith is dealing with calf issues, and Kyle Allen underwent season-ending ankle surgery in early November. So, with all that on his shoulders, Haskins went out there this Sunday against the Panthers and vomited the ball all over the joint. In a 20-13 loss, Haskins fumbled the ball once and threw two awful interceptions, completing 14 of 28 passes for 154 yards, no touchdowns, and a 36.9 passer rating.

There was this pick to linebacker Tahir Whitehead where Haskins completely missed Whitehead dropping into coverage…

…and this Tre Boston pick in which Haskins derped the ball into triple coverage.

Eventually, Rivera had enough, and benched Haskins in favor of Taylor Heinicke, a career backup who had thrown one touchdown and three interceptions in his career before this game. Against the Panthers, however, Heinicke completed 12 of 19 passes for 139 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 102.3. Haskins’ team is running out of quarterbacks they can bench him in favor of.

After the game, Haskins refused to speak to the media, leaving the stadium and leaving the PR staff out to dry, per Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post. 

It’s tough to say that a guy just doesn’t get it unless you know him and are in the building, but in Haskins’ case, it very much walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, so it’s pretty easy to say that this is the case. The 15th overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Ohio State, Haskins has a contract that leaves the team with $8,518,909 in dead money if the decision is made to release him in the 2021 league year, and at this point, Haskins has done little to nothing to prevent that from happening.