Draft season always delivers a plethora of storylines. Many of those can be discussed in question form, thanks to social media and the endless debate format on sports shows. Is Joe Burrow the lock solid first selection? How many offensive tackles come off the board in the first round? How many wide receivers are selected in the first two days?
Another question that surfaced in the past few days is this: Do the Washington Redskins mirror the Arizona Cardinals from a season ago and, admist a coaching change, draft a quarterback to replace their first round QB from a season ago?
This debate took on a life of its own in the wake of the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine, when it was reported that Washington met with Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. While teams meet with players for a variety of reasons during the pre-draft process, including to pick a prospect’s brain on other players in the draft that a team might be interested in (for example Rivera might have asked about Alabama offensive tackle Jedrick Wills, Jr.) the meeting between coach and prospective quarterback apparently centered on Tagovailoa coming to Washington to compete with Dwayne Haskins.
As the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported, during the meeting between Washington and Tagovailoa the idea was raised of the quarterback competing with Haskins. According to a source, “[The Redskins] felt like Dwayne was not the guy right now. They want to bring in Tua, just get it going and compete.”
But would such a move be the right one for the organization? Does it make sense to potentially move on from Haskins after less than a full season of action?
To answer that question it makes sense to address three topics: First, Haskins as a prospect. Second, Haskins as a rookie, and third, Haskins in 2020 versus Tagovailoa in 2020.