WFT's Alex Smith Says Steelers' Dwayne Haskins Needs to Eliminate 'Distractions'

Washington Football Team quarterback Alex Smith said Dwayne Haskins, WFT's first-round pick in the 2019 draft, must eliminate off-field "distractions" after signing a futures contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday.

Smith told Yahoo Sports' Terez Paylor he previously delivered the advice directly to Haskins, who was released by Washington in December:

"I think the first thing that I hope with Dwayne—and I've told him this—is, you don't have a chance until you've eliminated a lot of the distractions that are going on in your life. And it's hard as a young player, as a young draft pick—certainly as a quarterback thrust with a lot of weight and expectations—all of a sudden you've got endorsement deals, advertising agents, your own agent and you've got a lot of voices telling you different things.

"In the end though, this all comes down to playing well on the football field. And I think you have to be able to eliminate all that other stuff, because none of it matters if you can't go out there and play at a high level. And you'll never be able to develop into your potential if you don't eliminate all that stuff as well. And so my hope for Dwayne is to do that."

Haskins looked like a star in the making during his final college season at Ohio State. He threw 50 touchdowns and just eight interceptions across 14 appearances for the Buckeyes in 2018 en route to finishing third in Heisman Trophy voting behind Kyler Murray and Tua Tagovailoa.

That success didn't immediately translate to the NFL level. He finished his short tenure in Washington with 12 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in 16 games. His 73.0 passer rating in 2020 ranked 33rd among 35 qualified quarterbacks.

Along with the on-field struggles, he was fined $40,000 by the organization and stripped of his captaincy in December for his second violation of COVID-19 safety protocols.

Smith told Yahoo Sports he's hopeful Haskins will learn from his mistakes in Washington because he was impressed by the 23-year-old New Jersey native's talent level:

"I feel like certainly, there was a lot working against him here the last two years that didn't allow him to reach his potential, because he's a guy that's crazy gifted. Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy talented—and he's a good kid. And so my hope is, we all have different roads and different paths, and it takes different things for us to learn from and to grow. And so hopefully, this can be one of those experiences for him that helps him get going to where he wants to go."

Haskins joined Ben Roethlisberger and Mason Rudolph as the Steelers quarterbacks under contract heading into the offseason, though Roethlisberger's future is uncertain.

"I think it's reasonable to assume there is a chance he is going to be back, certainly," Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters last week.

Roethlisberger, 38, will be the unquestioned starter to open 2021 if he returns.

Should Big Ben opt to retire or if the front office decides to move on, it's possible Haskins could find himself in a training-camp competition for the starting job with Rudolph and some offseason additions. The team would probably bring in both a veteran and an early-round draft pick in that scenario.

Regardless, Haskins is a strong bet to eventually get another chance to start either in Pittsburgh or elsewhere, but he'll need to show substantial progress both on and off the field to establish himself as a franchise quarterback.