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Washington Football Team: Breaking down the decision to bench Dwayne Haskins, start Kyle Allen

By Jacob Camenker

Aug 20, 2020; Ashburn, Virginia, USA; Washington Football Team quarterback Kyle Allen (8) and Washington Football Team quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. (7) participate in drills on day twenty-three of training camp at Inova Sports Performance Center in Ashburn, Virginia. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 20, 2020; Ashburn, Virginia, USA; Washington Football Team quarterback Kyle Allen (8) and Washington Football Team quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. (7) participate in drills on day twenty-three of training camp at Inova Sports Performance Center in Ashburn, Virginia. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /
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Aug 20, 2020; Ashburn, Virginia, USA; Washington Football Team quarterback Kyle Allen (8) and Washington Football Team quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. (7) participate in drills on day twenty-three of training camp at Inova Sports Performance Center in Ashburn, Virginia. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 20, 2020; Ashburn, Virginia, USA; Washington Football Team quarterback Kyle Allen (8) and Washington Football Team quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. (7) participate in drills on day twenty-three of training camp at Inova Sports Performance Center in Ashburn, Virginia. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /

The Washington Football Team has benched Dwayne Haskins and is starting Kyle Allen. Here’s a full breakdown of that decision.

Ahead of Week 5 of the NFL season, the Washington Football Team and Ron Rivera made a surprising decision. They announced that Dwayne Haskins, their first-round draft pick from the 2019 NFL Draft and starter at quarterback for 2020, would be benched in favor of Kyle Allen.

Allen, 24, was acquired in exchange for a fifth-round pick during the 2020 offseason and was expected to be a young backup with upside and experience in Scott Turner‘s system. Instead, he’ll be plugged in as the starter moving forward and Washington will see what he can do.

The surprising part of this decision is that it happened so quickly. Haskins hadn’t been good to start the season, but he also had only seven games in 2019, so he is still a very inexperienced quarterback. It was expected that he would have a chance to prove himself this year but instead, he’ll be relegated to third-string duty behind Allen and Alex Smith.

Ron Rivera has reasons for making this move. The decision may not seem like the right one, but it could pan out. This also doesn’t necessarily signal the end of Haskins’ time in Washington and could serve as a wake-up call of sorts for him as he looks to re-emerge as a starter.

Here’s an in-depth breakdown of this decision by Rivera, why it was made, and what may be in store for the future of the franchise.

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