Tua Tagovailoa Rumors: Redskins Told QB They Want Him to Compete with Haskins

Washington may be looking to secure a franchise quarterback at this year's NFL draft despite selecting Dwayne Haskins just a year ago.

According to Safid Deen of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, "New coach Ron Rivera told Tua Tagovailoa he wants to bring him to Washington to compete with second-year quarterback Haskins during their meeting at the NFL combine."

"They felt like Dwayne was not the guy right now," a source told Deen. "They want to bring in Tua, just get it going and compete."

That same source told Deen that Tagovailoa's preference would be for the Miami Dolphins to draft him, however. The Dolphins hold the No. 5 overall pick.

It's possible Washington is employing a bit of gamesmanship, hoping to convince Miami—a team desperately in need of a franchise quarterback—that it will need to move up to No. 2 overall to nab Tagovailoa. The idea would be getting back a bounty of draft picks in exchange. 

It's harder to imagine Washington simply bypassing the chance to potentially select Ohio State edge-rusher Chase Young—arguably the top overall talent in this year's draft—and giving up on Haskins after making him the No. 15 overall pick a season ago, especially with a new coaching staff in place that hasn't had the chance to work with him.   

"You can win because of him, and you can win with him. That's what’s exciting. He's got that type of potential, but he's got to grow into it and nothing will be given," Rivera said of Haskins at the NFL Scouting Combine, per Deen. "He's not anointed, that's for sure. I expect him to come in and compete and work and we'll see what happens."

It certainly wouldn't be a great look for Washington's front office to invest consecutive first-round picks in quarterbacks, especially considering Haskins likely wouldn't fetch that level of draft pick in any prospective trades. He had his ups-and-downs as a rookie, throwing for 1,365 yards, seven touchdowns and seven interceptions in nine appearances, completing just 58.6 percent of his passes.

Tagovailoa, meanwhile, would have been in the conversation for the top overall pick had he not suffered a season-ending hip injury last year. He was the Heisman Trophy runner-up in 2018 and finished his college career at Alabama with 7,442 passing yards, 87 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and a 69.3 completion percentage. 

Tagovailoa appears to be the quarterback with more upside over the long term. The question for Washington is whether the team would nonetheless be better off selecting a potential star in Young and giving Haskins the chance to prove himself with a new coaching staff and a year of experience under his belt.