Team right to play long game with Haskins
Turns out there was no backup quarterback competition. There was no Battle Behind Ben. Mason Rudolph was ticketed for that spot all along, unless he imploded.
Dwayne Haskins could have completed every pass he threw this summer, and he’d still be No. 3. He could throw for eight touchdowns Friday against the Carolina Panthers, and it would not impact the depth chart. The Steelers clearly view Haskins as a long-term project, to be treated with extreme care and caution.
Can you blame them?
I can’t.
It seems obvious why Mike Tomlin has avoided putting Haskins in position to fail, even if I was among those calling for him to get more time with the starters earlier in the preseason. There has been enough failure in Haskins’ short NFL career. Enough to damage, if not wreck, a man’s confidence.
The long game makes more sense. If Haskins is to reach his immense potential — still a long shot — it will be as a starter. It will be as Ben Roethlisberger’s successor. The Steelers aren’t grooming him to play an emergency series in
Buffalo. They’re grooming him in hopes he can be their guy, and they can afford to take their time.
Washington didn’t. Haskins was supposed to be the savior of his hometown team, but henever really had a chance. And remember, he played onlyone full season at Ohio State.The common belief was that Washington’s joke ofan owner, Daniel Snyder, foisted Haskins upon his football people, forcing them to draft him 15th overall two years ago.
Haskins never was put in an ideal position to succeed. He played through two coaches and two offenses in a matter of 20 months. He had few weapons and little in the way of an offensive line. He screwed up plenty on his own, too, showing immaturity on and off the field. He was unceremoniously stripped of his captaincy and cut in the middle of a playoff chase before his second season ended. He was 23.
You don’t need a licensed psychologist to tell you that such an experience could leave permanent scars. The Steelers inherited what one would have to believe was a wounded athlete when they signed Haskins in January. He was available to them because no other team wanted him. He went unclaimed on waivers. He was looking up at rock bottom.
There was minimal risk on the team’s side, but in order to give the project any chance of succeeding, the Steelers obviously decided Haskins would be brought along slower than Najeh Davenport on a kick return.
In a sense, the Steelers are trying to rewind the clock here. It reportedly took some Ohio State people by surprise when Haskins eschewed his final two years there and entered the draft. In Washington, he often seemed unprepared for the NFL — almost like a guy who played only one year of college football. The Washington Post reported that “the team was frustrated that Haskins would go through his progressions incorrectly and with how he’d set protections — subtle but vital parts of the position.”
At the same time, Haskins “would tantalize with good quarters, getting into a rhythm reminiscent of his time at Ohio State, when he threw 50 touchdowns to eight interceptions in 2018.”
The man who cut Haskins, Ron Rivera, delivered a poignant final appraisal.
“Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before you can dig your way back out of it. Sometimes a change helps,” Rivera said. “With Dwayne, it’s what have you learned? What are you going to take from these experiences that are going to help you grow and get better?
“That’s the big thing with him and the thing I hope he learns from these experiences. Hopefully, they’ll make him stronger, and they’ll help him and, hopefully, when he gets his next opportunity, he’ll make the best of it.”
It’s here, and make no mistake: This is the most gifted young quarterback to join the team since Roethlisberger himself arrived in 2004. It’s worth the risk. It’s also worth taking their time, and in the project’s delicate early stages, it’s working.
After a rough spring, Haskins had a good camp and has completed 66% of his passes with one touchdown and no interceptions in the preseason, good for a 92.5 passer rating. The Carolina game will mark another step, but it’s hardly make-orbreak. It’s the fourth exhibition game.
Haskins has been extra careful at times, to the point where Tomlin dubbed him “Checkdown” for his propensity to dump the ball short rather than risk a throw downfield. But that sort of fits the theme here, doesn’t it?
No need to force it. No rush.