Nick Wass/Associated Press

Should a rookie quarterback start right away, or should he learn from the bench while watching a veteran at first?

It's a common annual debate with important implications for NFL teams and quarterbacks. The Redskins and Dwayne Haskins must address it during training camp in a few weeks. 

It's also a silly question when asked so broadly. Anyone who claims to have a one-size-fits-all answer is just bluffing, because every situation is different.

Some rookie quarterbacks are more prepared than others. Some veteran quarterbacks have more to offer as starters and "mentors" than others. Some organizations have logical, well-thought-out development and succession plans, and other organizations are the Washington Redskins. 

Haskins is about as prepared to start right away as the typical first-round rookie quarterback. He threw for 4,831 yards and 50 touchdowns at Ohio State against some of the best competition in the nation last year, which takes a degree of NFL readiness. He did most of his damage from the pocket, so he's less reliant on playground tactics than many rookies. He didn't accidentally tie his cleats together in OTAs or anything. And Case Keenum and Colt McCoy, the veterans he'll compete against, aren't exactly Joe Montana and Steve Young.

Despite all of these factors, it would be best if Haskins begins the season on the bench.

Redskins legend Joe Theismann agrees.

"To put him out there early against those teams, it's just a formula for disaster for the team, for Jay [Gruden], for the fans and everybody else," Theismann told 106.7 The Fan in late June. "I think the young man is our future, and let's protect the future instead of throwing it out there right now and saying, 'OK, go get 'em.'"

Nothing makes a forward-thinking NFL columnist like me second-guess himself quite like agreeing with a staunch traditionalist like Theismann. It's like nodding in approval when your great uncle says Cub Scouts should be left in the forest by themselves overnight so they can learn how to find their own way home. But different people can reach the same conclusion for different reasons.

Theismann thinks Haskins should sit, in part, because Washington's early schedule includes games against the Eagles, Cowboys, Bears and Patriots. Fair enough: Perhaps using Keenum and/or McCoy as early-season stunt doubles makes some sense. 

Though Washington's coaches and scouts did not feel compelled to draft Dwayne Haskins, owner Daniel Snyder overruled them, forcing Washington to select the Ohio State QB 15th overall.Patrick Semansky/Associated Press/Associated Press/Associated Press/Associated Press

However, the best reason for Haskins to start the season on the bench has nothing to do with Haskins, Keenum, McCoy or the opponents. It has to do with the organization itself. 

Head coach Jay Gruden worked with Haskins and Keenum through OTAs (McCoy is still recovering from a leg injury, as is Alex Smith, who isn't expected to return this year). Gruden will work with them through training camp and the preseason. And then the starter likely will be selected by...owner Dan Snyder.

That's how decisions have been made in Washington since Snyder and then-head coach Mike Shanahan went to the mattresses over Donovan McNabb in 2010. It's an arrangement that contributed to a half-decade of Robert Griffin III/Kirk Cousins indecision.

According to ESPN's Dianna Russini, Snyder overruled his own coaches and scouts to select Haskins 15th overall in April's draft. That means the opening-day starter "isn't going to be a Jay Gruden decision; this is going to be an owner decision," Russini recently said on ESPN's Get Up (via Jordan Dajani of 247Sports). "And the owner in football—he always wins." 

We can laugh at the meddlesome Snyder all we want, but keep in mind that the "football people" in the organization were reportedly happy to enter this season with Keenum, McCoy and no quarterback of the future on the roster. That's further evidence that the folks who make football decisions in Washington are terrible at making football decisions, which is why Snyder's draft-day decrees and Theismann's old-school wisdom are starting to make sense by comparison. 

For example, All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams, arguably the best player on the Skins roster, was absent for all of OTAs. His conflict with the team doesn't appear to be merely financial, either. According to Les Carpenter and Kareem Copeland of the Washington Post, Williams doesn't like the way the team's medical staff handled an offseason procedure. 

Whatever the issue or issues, don't expect the organization to come up with a clever combination of money and apologies anytime soon. This is the franchise that got bogged down in a multiyear contract dispute with Cousins, who comes across as the nicest counselor at vacation Bible camp. 

Meanwhile, Ereck Flowers is penciled in to start at left guard. You may remember Flowers from all of those montages of Eli Manning getting sacked over and over again. Perhaps Flowers will benefit from a move from tackle to guard. Then again, based on the reports out of OTAs, perhaps not. 

Per OverTheCap.com, the Skins are spending more salary-cap space on their offense this season than any other NFL team. Only a small fraction of that money will help Haskins, now or ever.

Some of it will go to Smith as he rehabs from his brutal leg injury. Some of it is tied to the disgruntled Williams. But much of the rest is being spent on a mix of aging, injury-prone veterans (Jordan Reed, Vernon Davis), overpaid free-agent experiments (Paul Richardson), failed prospects (Josh Doctson) and general organizational procrastination and mismanagement (it would take a separate column to explain why Brandon Scherff is making $12.5 million this year).

You get the idea. The roster is a mess, and the power structure is worse. Snyder rules by his whims, Allen eagerly caters to those whims and Gruden is just Jason Garrett with a famous brother. The Skins aren't merely a dumpster fire; they're the malodorous trash-lava oozing into the sewer behind the dumpster fire. 

Ereck Flowers' history of getting pushed around by opposing defensive linemen doesn't bode well for the long-term health of anyone who steps under center for Washington.Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press

If Haskins is thrown into the lineup right away, he might get injured behind a line featuring Flowers and left tackle Rando McNottrentwilliams. Or he could develop shaky habits that might jeopardize his career. Or he could end up a pawn in yet another Washington power struggle. 

If he sits, at least he'll remain in mint condition and will get a hero's welcome when he eventually leaps through a portal to save the day, Avengers: Endgame style.

Things were different back when Theismann arrived in Washington in 1974. Back then, incumbent veteran quarterbacks Billy Kilmer and Sonny Jurgensen conspired to keep him at the bottom of the depth chart. Theismann was relegated to punt-return duty as a rookie. 

It's a tale that sounds charming because it happened back when everyone wore bell-bottoms and it was no big deal if it took someone like Theismann four years to finally claim a starting job. Nowadays, teams need to develop their quarterbacks quickly. Different plans work for different rookies, but having no plan whatsoever—no, "the owner said so" is not a plan—is doomed to failure.

The Skins might not get any less dysfunctional while Haskins learns from the bench. But the opponents may get a little easier, the expectations a little lower and the supporting cast a little more stable.

For Haskins, sitting and waiting is the least harmful alternative. For Washington, "least harmful" is about as good as it gets.

Mike Tanier covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @MikeTanier.