A confounding conundrum came out of Washington’s decision to bench starting quarterback Dwayne Haskins on Wednesday morning.
By moving on from the former first-round pick after a total of just 13 starts, the team made it clear that they are giving up on him, letting him go the way of Josh Rosen in Arizona, hoping that he can find a new team somewhere down the road that might make some use of him. In his place steps Kyle Allen, a slightly better quarterback who might give Washington a chance to win one or two more games down the road than Haskins could have. But is Allen the guy for the next 5-7 years? Seems unlikely.
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So where is all of this leading? Unfortunately, it seems that Washington will be back in the market for a starting QB, which will likely need to come from the 2021 NFL Draft. Disregard the fact that, had they made the decision to move on from Haskins before the 2020 season, they could have had a chance to sign Cam Newton, or Teddy Bridgewater, or Ryan Tannehill. But no, they decided to stick with Haskins, claiming it was his job for the future, and he had their trust to allow him to grow into the position and take his shot at becoming a real franchise quarterback. Would that growth period take a year or two? Hopefully not, but it undoubtedly deserved more than a measly four games.
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Now the team is stuck with two ideologically opposite decisions to make. By tapping Kyle Allen as their QB1 for the season, they are looking to win as many games as they can and make a run at the playoffs. However, by moving on from Haskins, with it being believed that Allen is not any more of a franchise QB than his predecessor was, they’ll be in need of a franchise quarterback that can lead the team for the future, ideally.
You can’t become successful in both of those ventures at once.
There may be an off-chance that Allen steps into the starting spot and absolutely wows us with his talent and knowledge of the system, leading Washington to a winning season and subsequent playoff birth. Sure, he technically could become the franchise QB that Washington has always wanted. If that happens, I will happily eat all of the crow.
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What seems more likely to happen is that Allen will allow Washington to win a couple more games this year than Haskins would have, they’ll finish somewhere near the top of the NFC East, and most likely miss out on the playoffs. This will leave them with a middling position in the NFL Draft, where most of the top QB prospects are off the board, and another QB competition between an underwhelming Kyle Allen and first-round draft pick who nobody is quite sold on.
Sound familiar? Rinse, repeat. Welcome to the life of a Washington Football Fan.
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