The Washington Redskins drafted Dwayne Haskins 15th overall in 2019. But with the team’s 0-3 start, when should the rookie quarterback take over?
Things have gotten off to a rough start for the Washington Redskins. Following a Monday Night Football loss to Chicago, Jay Gruden’s team is now 0-3 on the year. However, the change in Week 3 was that starting quarterback Case Keenum, starting over rookie first-round pick Dwayne Haskins, was a primary cause for the loss.
Despite losing still in the first two outings of the year, Keenum was a steady hand. He had thrown for five touchdowns and no interceptions, keeping the offense at least competent, a particularly difficult task considering how awful the run game has been. Against the Bears, though, that changed.
Keenum was downright terrible versus Chicago. Yes, he threw for over 300 yards and two touchdowns but he committed five turnovers on the night, throwing three interceptions and losing two fumbles. Yes, it was against a fierce Bears defense but it was an abysmal showing from a veteran signal-caller.
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Naturally, fans began to wonder if such a poor performance would spark a change at quarterback to bring Haskins in. However, Gruden shot that down when asked about it after the game, saying he wanted continuity at quarterback and Keenum provides that, per NFL.com.
It’s not hard to see where Gruden is coming from in that regard either. A change to Haskins is not going to change the fact that Redskins are not a winning football team in 2019. Thus, allowing other young players like Terry McLaurin and Trey Quinn on offense to feed off a stabilizing veteran like Keenum could serve them all well.
At the same time, however, a team doesn’t take a quarterback in the first round if they don’t believe in him — or at least they shouldn’t. And at some point, there reaches a breaking point where having a veteran quarterback only means so much. You then need to move on to the future and get Haskins in-game reps so that he’s able to garner real experience.
In all likelihood, the most sensible time for the Redskins to make the switch is after their bye in Week 10. That will give them two weeks to ready him for his first start and won’t be throwing him to the wolves for an entire season.
Having said that, it’s going to be hard to hold off on making the switch until then if Keenum submits more performances like his in Week 3. The fans, the media and perhaps even those within the organization are going to question why the first-round pick isn’t seeing the field and that will only grow as the struggles in Washington mount.
Gruden’s approach with Keenum and Haskins isn’t off-base by any means. At the same time, however, it’s not one that’s going to be popular. And that may ultimately force his hand before he wants to. So again, it would be best to wait until Week 11 but don’t be surprised if Dwayne Haskins is under center before then.