Dwayne Haskins Rumors: Redskins 'Being Careful' with QB; Want Him to Compete

It appears new Washington head coach Ron Rivera hasn't made a decision on his starting quarterback yet despite recently trading for his former backup in Carolina, Kyle Allen.

According to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, the team is leaning towards selecting edge Chase Young at No. 2 overall in the upcoming draft and letting Allen and Dwayne Haskins Jr. compete for the starting role, as opposed to taking Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa with the second pick and blowing up their QB depth chart: 

"The Redskins are being careful with second-year quarterback Dwayne Haskins: They are encouraged enough not to replace him outright, but they want him on edge as if competition is coming. As the source put it, Haskins played well late last season, so why start over when Chase Young is available at No. 2 overall?"

Haskins finished his rookie season with 1,365 passing yards, seven touchdowns and seven interceptions but put together back-to-back games with a QB Rating above 120 to end the year against the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. 

While Allen may be more familiar with Rivera's coaching style and schemes, the 24-year-old doesn't exactly inspire complete optimism. 

In 2019, while subbing in for an injured Cam Newton, Allen went 5-7 with 3,322 passing yards, 17 touchdowns and 16 interceptions along with 13 fumbles. His QB Rating for the season was a meager 80. That was with Christian McCaffrey, D.J. Moore, Greg Olsen and Curtis Samuel in the huddle.

It wouldn't make a ton of sense to hand him an offense in Washington that features an unproven running back in Derrius Guice with Terry McLaurin, Trey Quinn and Steven Sims Jr. at wideout—unless Haskins is struggling mightily to learn Rivera's playbook. 

The situation seems like one that will have to work itself out during the draft. If Washington selects Tua—or any other quarterback later on—it feels inevitable that he'd be named starter assuming he's fully healthy. Given that Tagovailoa's camp will be distributing updated medical scans of the QB's surgically repaired hip before the draft, there shouldn't be too much concern with selecting him as a top-five pick. 

Then again, that would make back-to-back years with Washington taking a quarterback in the first round after nabbing Haskins at 15 overall in 2019. Maybe Tua is too good to pass up, but there's an easy argument for Chase Young as well. 

Months before the season opens up, Rivera has already reached a crucial moment in his tenure in DC.