There are several factors that can go into a young quarterback’s development in the NFL. Whether it’s the time he puts into the craft or the teammates surrounding him, the leap that a rookie quarterback makes during his first offseason can often be crucial to determining how impressive his career will eventually be.
For Washington Redskins’ Dwayne Haskins, his coming months of training and growing are going to be watched intensely, as the entire District of Columbia waits to see if he will rise above the bust narrative that has followed him since being drafted with the No. 15 pick in 2019. One thing that Haskins has going for him is a dedicated coaching staff who won’t be rushing him to be perfect right away like the last staff was, and he also has some great mentors in the program to look after.
One of those mentors is QB Alex Smith, who has been on the mend from a gruesome leg injury suffered in the 2018 season. While working to rehab back to full strength, Smith has been a great mentor to Haskins, working to get him comfortable in the league and ready to perform up to expectations.
“I think Alex Smith is one of the finest players people I’ve ever been around. He’s brilliant. He’s so mature,” said Urban Meyer, the former coach of Haskins at Ohio State, and Smith at Utah. “He’s still one of the best I’ve ever been around. So I think I think they should utilize his skill to help Dwayne, and I hope Dwayne takes it.”
Stories of a Haskins and Smith bond were prevalent throughout the 2019 season, as Haskins was often seen with the veteran passer during or after practice, breaking down plays and what Dwayne could do better to succeed. While the results might not have been great, Meyer doesn’t think that should all be on Haskins, as it wasn’t with Smith when he was a young player in the NFL.
“When you take a kid like Alex Smith and you put him in just a terrible team, and [people say] ‘Alex can’t play in the NFL,’ that’s bizarre to me that a quarterback will be held accountable because he’s on a really, really bad team,” Meyer said.
So what happens when you put Haskins on a solid roster that can actually compete week in and week out? We can’t know for sure, but if he continues to progress as we’ve seen this offseason, the results should be compelling.
“I tell you what, you put Dwayne Haskins around a great team, he’ll be a great player,” Meyer said. “I’ve been saying that.”
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