Washington Football Team: Three keys to Dwayne Haskins’ improvement

No. 3 – Improving his footwork

This must be objective No. 1. It’s something that affected him back at Ohio State, and something that affects him now in the NFL. If Dwayne Haskins wants to improve as an NFL quarterback, improving his footwork is priority No. 1.

Dwayne Haskins’ footwork gives him very little room for error as a thrower. It’s reason No. 1 as to why he’s inefficient in the passing game, it’s reason No. 1 as to why him staring down his receivers is even more magnified, and it’s reason No. 1 for why he struggles so much with being consistent.

This isn’t an issue only I am identifying either. It’s something that guys like Mark Bullock and former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky also see.

Throughout his NFL career, you can pinpoint every interception Haskins has thrown, and chalk it up to poor footwork. His footwork gives him nothing to build on, and it gives him no consistency.

Haskins’ footwork puts him at a disadvantage with nearly every snap given. It relegates him and the Washington offense to being a run-first, screen passing offense in 2020. That puts so much pressure on the defense’s shoulders to keep them in ball games, keeping scores low, and relying heavily on winning the turnover battle.

In the NFL, the one thing you cannot do when missing your target is miss high. Dwayne’s inconsistent footwork and poor footwork mechanics cause him to miss high with nearly every missed throw. He almost never has a firm platform to throw from. That’s why his throws are so inconsistent.

If you don’t believe me, you can check the Browns game where Haskins delivers a dart to Dontrelle Inman on third and goal, when previously he missed a wide-open Terry McLaurin left of the back pylon.

Or you can queue every interception he threw that game and even including the near interceptions, where his mechanics couldn’t bail him out whatsoever.

There have even been times when he’s attempting to throw a screen to his running backs, and he misses them high. Or on the run, he’s missing wide open targets by a mile.

When checking the film, you see he’s throwing off his heels, he’s not giving himself anything to work with other than sheer arm talent, overthrowing his target with ease.

Dwayne Haskins can overcome a lot in his NFL career. But he won’t ever become a consistent NFL quarterback, a franchise quarterback, with such poor footwork as a passer. This must be priority No. 1, and it must be addressed in-season if the Washington Football Team wants to compete.

Until this gets fixed, until this improves mightily, Dwayne Haskins will be consistent at being inconsistent. Nothing will be for certain other than not knowing what you’ll get snap to snap as it pertains to the play under center.

As mentioned before though, all is not lost in Washington with Dwayne Haskins. There’s time running out surely for him to show signs of life, signs of being the “future.” But that doesn’t mean it cannot happen. Haskins’ uncertainty with his feet cannot continue; he has to be better, and I’m sure he knows it.

The Washington Football Team has a big game against Baltimore this coming Sunday, but after that, Haskins will get some reps against teams who are at or below .500. Surely, he can string together some impressive outings to relight the fire everybody in D.C. knows he has.