Just short of the end of his second NFL season, and one year after he was selected 15th overall in the 2019 draft, now-former WFT quarterback Dwayne Haskins is on the open market. Per multiple reports, Haskins was released Monday morning.
This comes just over a week after Haskins was seen maskless at a private party, which happened just after he completed 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. That off-field issue got Haskins stripped of his captain’s status and fined $40,000 — more than half his weekly game check.
“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.”
The team started Haskins against the Panthers on Sunday, and 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…
.@Big_Tah47 with the INT pic.twitter.com/pQ5QC0AyKQ
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) December 27, 2020
…and this Tre Boston pick in which Haskins derped the ball into triple coverage.
t r e b o 👏 pic.twitter.com/NiNxakfw7w
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) December 27, 2020
Eventually, head coach Ron 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.
Earlier Monday morning, Rivera said that Heinicke would be the starter if Alex Smith couldn’t go, which was an excellent example of the writing on the wall.
Asked about Haskins Monday morning before the release was made official, Rivera was quite pointed about Haskins’ future.
Ron Rivera is asked what now with Dwayne Haskins in Washington.
"Sometimes you have to reach rock bottom before you can dig your way back out of it. Sometime change helps. But with Dwayne, it's what have you learned?"
(@NickiJhabvala with the questions) pic.twitter.com/AWBWcoFJLb
— Ben Standig (@BenStandig) December 28, 2020
Well, this is rock bottom for Haskins. In two NFL seasons, he’s completed 60.1% of his passes for 2,804 yards, 12 touchdowns, 14 interceptions, and a passer rating of 74.4. While those numbers are not great, they’re not career-killers for a young quarterback, which leads you to believe that there’s more than the on-field performance leading to this decision. If Haskins wants to maintain any kind of NFL career, he’s got a lot to figure out.