USA TODAY International Edition
Haskins turns page on first year
The chess- board feel has started to return for Dwayne Haskins as he scans the field and prepares to direct the Washington Football Team’s offense.
He’s still early in his acclimation process to a new offense, coaching staff and a slew of other changes around him. But mentally, he feels a greater sense of comfort and improved anticipation.
Dating to his days at Ohio State, the quarterback, through his tutors, has used the game of chess to help sharpen his strategic and reactionary skills. It helped train his mind to remain a step or two ahead of opponents. But during a rookie season in which organizational turmoil swirled all around him, Haskins found himself trying to survive more than anything. Rarely did he feel in control enough to execute aggressively and consistently.
That crash course in NFL quarterbacking did, however, offer Haskins one thing: an understanding of where he needed to improve entering his second pro season.
New dietary, health and fitness regimens helped him lose 15 pounds and boost his strength and athleticism. Additional mental training exercises and hours of film study have improved his decision- making skills. Time spent with talented peers has inspired and motivated Haskins.
Now as Washington’s players and coaches lay the groundwork for yet another franchise reboot ( this time under the direction of new coach Ron Rivera), Haskins believes he has positioned himself to secure the starting job and help lead his hometown team into a historic new era.
“I’ve been competing all my life on and off the field. It’s second nature,” Haskins told USA TODAY Sports. “So, I’m just going out there trying to be the best that I can be and improve myself day in and day out, leading these guys, knowing my plays and responsibilities, having a voice, being a presence that’s undeniable, being reliable.
“In competition, you can’t worry about doing better than the next guy. You worry about being better for yourself and that makes you better, makes the guys around you better, and that’s what I’m looking forward to doing.”
When he entered the NFL as the No. 15 overall pick of the 2019 draft, people familiar with Haskins never questioned whether he had the physical tools necessary to operate at a high level. But they saw him as raw because he had only one season of full- time starting experience at Ohio State.
A Jay Gruden- led staff that was coaching to save their jobs had little time or interest in spoon- feeding the rookie and relegated him to a reserve role. Haskins struggled when he took over as the starter midway through the season but showed promise down the stretch. However, he acknowledges he was still learning how to carry himself as a professional on and off the field.
So as he continued to train with private quarterbacks coach Quincy Avery and chess coach Seth Makowsky, the focus of his offseason work was as much mental as it was physical.
“I just tried to get around some top, competitive, quarterback NFL minds,” Haskins explained. “Getting around Quincy, who’s great at bringing a workout to life in a game situation. Helping me get back to the basics with footwork and timing, and fine- tuning those things. Like with him, the workouts are tailored to making plays outside the pocket, working on my form if I’m throwing while I’m moving, delivering with different arm angles. That’s stuff I feel like I need to work on as well so I’ll know what it’s like to be third- and- 3 and throw an out, drifting to the left with a guy right there in your face. And, off the field, it was work with the chess program and chalk talks.”
As Avery explained, “It’s elite mindset training, using chess as a tool. … There’s a real correlation between playing quarterback and the game of chess.
Checks and balances, doing things the right way every single time … seeing things very quickly, processing chunks of information and then making aggressive moves. A lot of the principles we use in chess are the exact same as playing quarterback.
“( Haskins) has done amazing. He is super smart. His ability to process information and understand what we’re trying to do has really evolved. It’s cool to see him pick up so quickly and how he’s going to continue to develop as a quarterback.”
Another important element of Haskins’ work with Avery was the opportunity it afforded him to pick the brains of the coach’s other clients. He spent time with Cam Newton, learning about Rivera’s coaching style and the system offensive coordinator Scott Turner runs. He also gleaned knowledge from Newton and Deshaun Watson on the responsibilities of the quarterback position, leadership and accountability.
When he returned to Washington team headquarters to start training camp, teammates and staff members saw a noticeable difference in Haskins before he even stepped on the field.
Visibly, he was in much better shape. Equally as important: His body language and psyche had changed dramatically. Observers say he acted as if he belonged and strode through the halls and into meetings with confidence rather than tentatively making his way around the facility, almost as if he hoped to go unseen.
On the field, Haskins moves with the same confidence in and out of drills, in the huddle, instructing teammates on where to line up, and delivering the ball with authority and anticipation. His performances naturally aren’t flawless as he continues to learn the offense and his receivers, but growth is evident.
“I’ve been around Dwayne a long time,” Washington receiver Terry McLaurin, also Haskins’ teammate at Ohio State, told reporters recently, “and not that he hasn’t been working hard previously, but it’s just a different type of attentiveness, a different type of attention to detail that he’s approached this whole offseason since Day 1, all the way dating back to the end of the season. I feel like he’s not going to give himself too much credit, he knows that he’s got to put that product on the field now. ... I feel like he’s taken the right necessary steps, to be honest, with his physical, his mental.”
Rivera has commended Haskins’ efforts and progress. He doesn’t expect perfection yet. The quarterback is just weeks into the physical learning aspect. But the understanding that Haskins has displayed encourages the coach.
“He’s competing, he’s doing the things we need him to do, he’s being very professional about the way he’s handling himself and he’s really been very thoughtful in terms of his actions,” Rivera said. “So that’s one thing that’s been a big plus. It really has. I’ve been really pleased with what we’ve got from him.”
Haskins doesn’t profess to have mastered the playbook, and he knows the challenges from opposing defenses will only intensify.
But the comfort that he has gained with his surroundings and improved feel he has experienced on the field combine to fuel self- confidence and expectations of dramatic growth in Year 2. Now the expectations are to always be a step ahead.
“The other day, we had a protection called and it was ‘ empty’ and ( safety) Landon ( Collins) was showing two- high look,” Haskins recalled, terminology rolling off his tongue a year after he routinely stuttered through play calls in the huddle. “I’m knowing where my blitz pickup is, and if I’m hot, I’m playing to the right; knowing certain rules that are a part of the play. I knew I could re- ID my protection and knew I’ve got the protection called, that it was five- man, I could alert a certain route and then come back to my checkdown.
“It was second nature. Felt like chess.”