Assessing Washington Redskins first-round options: QB Dwayne Haskins

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INDIANAPOLIS, IN – MARCH 02: Quarterback Dwayne Haskins of Ohio State works out during day three of the NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium on March 2, 2019 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

Scouting Dwayne Haskins

The popular first destination for those who seek to learn more about a player is the college stats. Hence, Dwayne Haskins often leaves a very good first impression. In 2018, he was a Heisman candidate, and he amassed 4,831 yards, 50 touchdowns, and just eight interceptions, while completing over 70 percent of his passes.

Now, after his stellar redshirt sophomore season, Haskins is a quarterback widely expected to go early in Round 1, and he’s been garnering consideration from the Washington Redskins, who seem interested in his skills.

But should they be?

On tape, Haskins’ strong suits reveal themselves fairly quickly. But so do his limitations. He’s a bright young quarterback, who shows maturity with his ability to change protections at the line on his own. He knows how to use his eyes against defenders, looking off safeties when necessary to open up seams in the defense.

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Haskins also processes the field fairly quickly, but while he shows flashes of anticipation, he’s inconsistent in this area. Too often, he throws to receivers when they’re already open, not as they’re breaking out. He can also lock onto reads occasionally (like many young quarterbacks), keying in defenders on where he’s going with the ball.

From a mental, fundamental perspective, Haskins’ best work comes in the pocket. Haskins’ footwork is solid when undisturbed, and he has a generally solid feel in the pocket, although his awareness of pressure has its lapses. He’s able to step up into lanes and keep his eyes up, and he shows brilliant flashes of this pocket manipulation on tape, resetting his feet with proficiency. He can quickly turn his shoulder off the snap, and his release is generally quick. Although his arm isn’t elastic, he’s able to adjust his arm angle accordingly, to give his throws more time and space from rushers. He can try to force dangerous throws under pressure, but we’ll get to more of that later.

As a thrower, Haskins is perhaps overhyped. He has a suitable, serviceable NFL arm; he can generate good velocity, but the effort expended in his release shows that his arm talent isn’t the best, and his compact, slightly concave throwing motion can take some air out from under the ball, causing under thrown passes in the intermediate and deep ranges.

Haskins doesn’t have the sheer arm strength to drive the ball past deep coverage consistently, and his deep passes are fairly linear; he won’t drop them into the basket with touch consistently. He doesn’t have the command and control over the ball to consistently throw his receiver open; he’s more of a general-area thrower, in that respect (although he does occasionally flash the ability to play off of receiver leverage on intermediate bullets).

Haskins’ best throws come on short dump-offs below ten yards. He’s very good with placement on short run-after-catch opportunities, and he had one of the best run-after-catch threats in the game in Parris Campbell. His ball placement on these short passes allows his receivers the opportunity to gain more yardage. These short passes may have inflated Haskins’ completion percentage, as they were a large part of Haskins’ system at Ohio State.

That said, Haskins still likes to test windows up to fifteen yards, and he can drop the ball into very tight spaces on occasion, although more often than not, he’s throwing it as the window’s closing, not as it opens. His lack of pinpoint accuracy in contested situations can also lead to defensive opportunities. Haskins can be surgical with a perfect structure in place around him, but therein lies his greatest weakness as a first-round pick.

Haskins is a quarterback who will need to be in a perfect situation in the NFL. When he’s on rhythm, and when everything goes according to plan, he’s a great distributor for an offense. But when the structure breaks, Haskins’ play is much more erratic, and he doesn’t have the skill set to transcend circumstances, as other quarterbacks in this class do.

When he has to throw off-base or on the run, Haskins’ accuracy greatly wanes. He doesn’t have the torso flexibility and arm elasticity to consistently make plays on the run, off-script. He can’t extend plays when there’s nothing there, and his inaccuracy on the run can put his receivers in vulnerable situations. His lacking mobility hinders him in this regard, and while he can occasionally scramble, if there’s enough open space, he’s not the kind of quarterback to run rollouts and bootlegs with consistency.

Other miscellaneous notes include the following: Haskins can err too far on end zone fades, when the back shoulder is preferable. He’s not often aggressive as a passer, and he lacks the downfield mindset, and the tools to make those throws consistently. He wasn’t immune to receiver drops, some of which were more costly than others (One led to an interception against Penn State). Although under-throws were somewhat frequent in the intermediate and deep ranges for Haskins, the effort used in his throwing motion also led to overthrows in shorter ranges as well. He’s not the pinpoint accurate passer his stats suggest he is.

In short, you know what you’re getting with Haskins, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. At Ohio State, he was a good distributor in a very good college system, and when all the cogs in the machine were working well, he flourished, using his smarts and short accuracy to get the ball to his playmakers. Haskins himself, however, is not a playmaker on his own.

The Draft Network seems to have Haskins around a player grade of Round 2 or Round 3, purely as a prospect, and I’d tend to agree with that placing. When everything’s going right, he’s a quarterback who can run your offense smoothly. But is he the quarterback who can elevate your offense when nothing else is working? Is he the quarterback who can transcend inevitable lapses in structure in the NFL, and put his team on his back? As efficient as he was in 2018, he wasn’t the transcendent passer in college, and he doesn’t have the developmental traits to suggest he’ll be that in the NFL.

Tape Watched

Dwayne Haskins vs. Purdue (2018)

Dwayne Haskins vs. TCU (2018)

Dwayne Haskins vs. Michigan State (2018)

Dwayne Haskins vs. Michigan (2018)

Dwayne Haskins vs. Penn State (2018)

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