ESPN’s Adam Schefter apologizes for callous Dwayne Haskins tweet

The tragic passing of former Washington Commanders quarterback Dwayne Haskins was unfortunately met with controversy, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter painted Haskins in a negative light in the tweet he shared to break the news.

In the announcement, Schefter referred to Haskins as a “standout at Ohio State before struggling to catch on with Washington and Pittsburgh in the NFL . . . ” before disclosing that Haskins was struck and killed by a car.

Schefter left the tweet up for about 20 minutes. During that span, the NFL’s foremost insider was absolutely (and rightly) eviscerated by football fans, Haskins’ former teammates, players around the league and the media.

After coming to terms with his mistake, Schefter deleted the tweet and penned a reworked version of the announcement an hour later. This time, he referred to the late quarterback as a “standout at Ohio State before becoming Washington’s first-round pick and playing in Pittsburgh.”

As you would expect, the revised tweet fell on deaf ears. It shouldn’t have taken Schefter more than one attempt to get this right. There shouldn’t have been any mention of Haskins’ struggles in the NFL. Case closed.

Taking deserved slings and arrows from every which direction, Schefter finally apologized for insensitively breaking the news.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter apologized for how he broke the news of former Commanders QB Dwayne Haskins’ tragic death.

Here’s what Schefter had to say on his podcast on Monday.

"It was insensitive, it was a mistake and I can assure you it is not my intention. I wish I could have that tweet back.The focus should have been on Dwayne. Who he was as a person, a husband, a friend and so much more. I wanted to apologize to Dwayne’s family, his friends, the players in the National Football League, and offer my condolences to everybody close to Dwayne. And, in the way I failed Saturday, I wanted to turn people’s attention to make sure that Dwayne is remembered properly."

Schefter continued to note the appreciation Haskins had for the Steelers, who gave him a deserved second chance after the then-Washington Football Team released him in December of 2020, noting that he would “bump fists” with head coach Mike Tomlin, president Art Rooney and GM Kevin Colbert after every practice.

The ESPN insider continued to praise Haskins’ drive to prove himself to the Steelers organization, and his dedication to community service.

"Dwayne Haskins was beloved by his teammates in the NFL community, as the outpouring of support from over the weekend showed. He was beloved because of his smile, his attitude, his work ethic, his growth and the man he had turned himself into. His was a life taken too young."

It’s up to you whether to forgive Schefter, who clearly regrets disrespecting Haskins seemingly moments after his death. We just keep mulling why it took him two days to apologize. Maybe address why it took so long? Maybe record a video of yourself apologizing instead of plugging your already-popular podcast?

At least make the caption a little more poignant than “an apology and a tribute to Dwayne Haskins.”? A young man lost his life, you take days to release an apology and do so while promoting your podcast?

We give Schefter credit for owning up to his mistake and paying tribute to Haskins, but we’re not going to pretend like all is forgiven. We’ve seen far too much of that on Twitter, and that’s exactly why he never faces repercussions.

We just have one question for Schefter: how many apologies do you have to release before you simply do better?