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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 head coach Ron Rivera (L) and quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. (7) walk to the field prior to 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 head coach Ron Rivera (L) and quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. (7) walk to the field prior to day twenty-three of training camp at Inova Sports Performance Center in Ashburn, Virginia. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /

1. The new regime wasn’t tied to Dwayne Haskins

Ron Rivera, Scott Turner, and the rest of the coaching staff surely liked something about Haskins. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have committed to him as the starter ahead of the season and given him a vote of confidence by speaking glowingly during the offseason.

Even in his press conference following the announcement of Allen being named the starter, Rivera was still complimentary of Haskins and noted the young quarterback’s NFL-caliber arm strength. But nonetheless, the fact of the matter is that this coaching staff and front office combination wasn’t tied to Haskins.

New regimes often mean new quarterbacks, but because Haskins had only played half a season last year and was a 2019 first-round pick, Rivera and Co. probably agreed to give him a chance to win the starting job. That was a prerequisite for Matt Nagy when he was hired by the Chicago Bears a year after they took Mitch Trubisky No. 2 overall, so it makes sense that Rivera would have been in a similar boat in Washington.

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While Rivera was willing to give Haskins a shot, it’s telling that he brought in more young competition at the quarterback position. Trading a fifth-round pick for Allen demonstrated that he wanted an insurance policy at a time when it was unclear if Alex Smith would be healthy. It also gave Rivera someone with experience in the system should Haskins struggle.

That’s exactly what ended up happening. Things don’t go as Rivera had hoped or planned with Haskins and now, he’s pulling the plug. He can do that, in part, because he has an insurance policy, but it also helps his cause that he isn’t tied to Haskins as a quarterback. He wasn’t the one who drafted him; he just said he would give him a chance. He did that, but things didn’t work out.

We the brain trust that selected Haskins still in the building, things may have been different. The coaching staff’s fate may have been tied to the progression of the quarterback. But that wasn’t the case for Rivera, so he could afford to have a shorter leash with Haskins than another coach would have.

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