Dwayne Haskins’ future with the Washington Football Team

Approximately 40 hours ago, I wrote a piece about Dwayne Haskins’ on-field challenges and what the Washington Football Team should do to help him rise or fall as a professional quarterback. How long ago that all seems.

Before the piece went to publication, a photo surfaced of Haskins allegedly violating COVID-19 protocols after Sunday’s game. The violation, if true, would be considered flagrant. I chose not to amend my piece about his on-field play because, at the time, the transgression remained alleged. Even those who went public with the photo stated that they could not yet verify its authenticity.

By now, as you probably know, Dwayne Haskins has provided the verification. He did it in the form of an apology. The apology was nicely written. It also was staggeringly insufficient for a display of such monumental recklessness.

Haskins could be fined or suspended by the league. The Washington Football Team could also take a wide range of disciplinary action against him. I have been of the belief that Haskins will be traded this offseason. But I also fully understood that he was one Alex Smith injury away from taking the starting role for a team in a playoff hunt, and that his performance could possibly alter his future career trajectory, be it in Washington or elsewhere.

Now, however, it is impossible for me to see any scenario in which Haskins remains a member of the Washington Football Team in 2021. The only question now is whether he will finish out the 2020 season in DC.

The stakes are very high and the decision facing owner Daniel Snider and coach Ron Rivera is complicated. Washington is two wins away from a most improbable division championship and a trip to the playoffs. They may only need one win depending on what the New York Giants do. They do not have another healthy quarterback with significant NFL experience.

If the Washington Football Team demotes, suspends, or releases Haskins, and Alex Smith’s calf injury does not heal in time, they will enter a crucial game this Sunday with two quarterbacks who have thrown for a combined 330 yards and one touchdown in their NFL careers.

Ron Rivera has gone to great lengths to establish a winning culture for the Washington Football Team, and part of that has entailed walking away from some talented players for a variety of reasons. Haskins has given the franchise more than enough reason to let him go. But they have to weigh how other players will react to seriously diminishing the team’s playoff chances at this point.

If Alex Smith is able to return, I think this is a no-brainer. You suspend Haskins, then test the trade market this offseason. If Smith cannot play this Sunday, it’s difficult decision time.

It may not be fair, but athletes are afforded extra chances based on their talent. Paul Hornung and Alex Karras were both suspended by the NFL in the early 1960s for gambling and associating with unsavory characters. But both Hornung and Karras were highly productive players. Their teams, Green Bay and Detroit, held onto them and supported their reinstatements. You can find them both in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

On the other hand, NHL player Marty McSorely was mostly past his prime when he was suspended for a violent assault on Donald Brashear during a game. That ended McSorely’s NHL career. No NHL team was willing to put up with the negative press and the uncertain returns that signing McSorely would provide.

There are plenty of differences between the McSorely situation and the one Haskins in which Haskins currently finds himself. As is true with the case of Johnny Manziel, and countless other players whose on-field performance simply didn’t justify the headaches they caused their franchises.

Haskins shouldn’t be worried about his time in Washington, because I believe that is over and done. Even if he ends up dodging suspension and plays in the final two weeks. Even if he leads Washington into the playoffs. What he needs to worry about is whether he has thrown away his NFL future at this point.

I assume he has not. He is young enough and cheap enough and talented enough to entice at least one team into giving him a shot. Maybe many teams will be interested. But it is almost impossible to imagine that the Washington Football Team will be one of them.