After getting benched, is this the end of Dwayne Haskins in Washington?

Dwayne Haskins has been benched in favor of Kyle Allen after four starts in 2020.

The Washington Football Team has benched quarterback Dwayne Haskins ahead of Week 5.

After winning its first game of the season over the division rival Philadelphia Eagles, Washington has dropped three in a row to finish the first quarter of the 2020 NFL season at 1-3. Though Washington hasn’t been the worst team in the league, Haskins’ inability to elevate his team from the quarterback position has led to his benching in favor of Kyle Allen.

Has Dwayne Haskins taken his last snap as the Washington starter?

Let’s not rule that out entirely because Washington is still Washington, no matter who it hires as its head coach or goes about changing the offensive team nickname two generations too late. Because he is still on his rookie contract after being the No. 15 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, we can’t rule him being re-inserted into the starting lineup entirely, though it’s not looking good.

The big key here is Washington head coach Ron Rivera isn’t the one who drafted him. This was clearly a pick forced on the team by owner Daniel Snyder, as Haskins played high school football at the school Snyder’s children attended. In college, Haskins had one great year at The Ohio State University. While he did beat out Joe Burrow for the starting job in 2018, that was two years ago.

What’s troubling is two of the team’s other big stars of note are former teammates of Haskins in college: Defensive end Chase Young and wide receiver Terry McLaurin. We have to wonder how they feel about seeing their two-time teammate benched after a 1-3 start. Thus far in 2020, Haskins has completed 61 percent of his passes for 939 yards, four touchdowns and three picks.

The issue isn’t Haskins getting benched because that really doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Allen has played in this offensive system before when he was with Rivera last year with the Carolina Panthers. Though his college career didn’t go according to plan, people forget Allen was a blue-chip prospect coming out of high school. He will be a stop-gap starter in this league.

The problem is Haskins has gone from No. 1 on the depth chart to No. 3 in one fell swoop. Alex Smith, who hasn’t played in a game since nearly losing his leg two years ago, will now serve as Allen’s quarterback. Smith doesn’t need to take a snap to illustrate how miraculous his comeback was, but him going ahead of Haskins may signify it’s over for the Buckeye in Washington.

Admittedly, the whole decision to bench Haskins now feels strange. The only thing that makes sense is a mandate from ownership to start the former first-rounder for the first quarter of the season, just to give the guy a chance and attempt to save face for Snyder. Otherwise, it seems a bit counterintuitive for Washington if it wants to become a good football team in the long-term.

Benching Haskins at this time harpoons his trade value. He’s duking it out for arguably the fourth-best starting quarterback from his draft class with Daniel Jones of the New York Giants, firmly behind Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals, Gardner Minshew of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Drew Lock of the Denver Broncos in that order. This is not where you want to be at all.

The problem going forward is Washington may end up playing better ball in a putrid NFC East and get out of the Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields sweepstakes.

If Washington wants to start anew with a new franchise quarterback and a new nickname, who is it? The best “free agent” quarterback on the market is Dak Prescott of the division rival Dallas Cowboys. There is next to no chance he plays elsewhere in 2021, as “America’s Team” can franchise tag him again.

That’s where the team will need to be to draft Lawrence No. 1 out of Clemson and Ohio State’s Fields No. 2 is they can.

Another option for them is Trey Lance, and he might fit.

The former North Dakota State Bison star quarterback just declared for the 2021 NFL Draft. Even though he played at the FCS level, he’s more like Carson Wentz coming out of Fargo than Easton Stick. All three signal-callers won at an extremely high level, but Lance gives off the vibe of a franchise quarterback if Lawrence and Fields are already off the board. What about Kyle Trask?

Yes, the Florida Gators star quarterback is another option. However, he’s clearly the No. 4 quarterback prospect in the upcoming draft. He can really sling it, but you do have to wonder if he’s a product of Dan Mullen’s offense down in Gainesville. Either way, he’s Florida’s best shot at getting Heisman Trophy No. 4 and the best signal-caller the Gators have had since Tim Tebow.

So is this really the end for Haskins in Washington? It almost certainly is. He’s not mobile and his prolific passing numbers from 2018 in Columbus are not translating to the NFL. Unless Washington deplorably bottoms out, which could conceivably happen, the team will win too many games with Allen or Smith to be picking in the top-two. So either trade up or draft Lance in 2021.

This is why owners should not undermine what a front office wants to do, even in Washington.