Dwayne Haskins and the Washington Football Team are damaged goods

It’s hard to envision the Washington Football Team handling Dwayne Haskins any worse. Now, he, Ron Rivera, and the team are all in ruins.

Washington may only be four games into its 2020 regular season, but Ron Rivera and the organization’s front office have already mashed the reset button.

Their decision to demote quarterback Dwayne Haskins all the way down to No. 3 on the depth chart signals big changes ahead in the nation’s capital.

Haskins has not played good football this year by any metric. The former Ohio State star has only piloted his team to a 1-3 record on the back of 939 passing yards through four games. The fact he’s thrown three interceptions against four touchdowns also illustrates how much he’s struggled.

The bottom line is Haskins’ inability to throw the ball accurately has been obvious to anyone who’s watched Washington’s offense flounder this season.

Conversely, Washington’s offensive personnel is deeply flawed.

The offensive line charged to protect him is a mess. Terry McLaurin is the only wide receiver on the roster who inspires any sort of fear in opposing defenses. Antonio Gibson is an interesting prospect at running back, but he’s not the sort of bell cow who can take pressure off his quarterback by grinding out first downs on the ground.

So did Washington make the right decision?

Washington’s decision-makers are probably correct in their evaluation that Haskins is not going to become the Pro Bowl signal-caller the team thought he could develop into when they spent a first round draft choice to acquire him.

That doesn’t necessarily mean it was prudent to pull the plug on him after just 11 starts as a professional. The front office deserves to be criticized for failing to provide Haskins with a healthy ecosystem.

A young quarterback needs protection and weapons if he’s going to succeed early in his career. Haskins didn’t get either. In many ways, that made his struggles completely predictable for a savvy front office.

Washington definitely did one thing wrong

The front office’s biggest error here is dropping Haskins all the way down to No. 3 on the depth chart.

Kyle Allen will get the start at quarterback this week largely due to his familiarity with Rivera’s offense from their days together in Carolina. There’s zero chance that he proves he can be counted on as the team’s starter of the future. His ceiling is that of an adequate NFL backup.

Alex Smith ascends to the backup and that’s an amazing human interest story. His comeback from injury is nothing short of incredible. The combination of that injury history and his advanced age also make him a poor choice to lead the offense moving forward.

Dropping Haskins to third-string only serves to destroy any potential value he might have for Washington in a trade this offseason. This organization needs more assets if it’s going to accelerate a rebuild.

Keeping Haskins as the backup might have helped them get a useful draft pick back for him in a deal. Now Washington is likely going to be forced to give him away from practically nothing.

How does this impact Washington’s future?

The obvious answer here is now Washington has to be in the market to find a new starting quarterback come the offseason. Fans will naturally want to see the team end up with the No. 1 overall pick required to nab Trevor Lawrence.

Justin Fields is the more likely prospect to end up in Washington. Rivera will see shades of Cam Newton when he turns on tape of the Ohio State star. He’ll likely be a top-five pick, and Washington should comfortably slot into that sort of draft position.

Trey Lance could emerge as another intriguing prospect for the team’s front office. They might shy away from selecting another raw quarterback prospect due to the Haskins fiasco, but talent evaluators see him as a potential star if everything breaks right.

Should Washington have hope?

The franchise’s outlook for future success should get brighter if it’s able to nab either Lawrence or Fields. Both grade out as significantly better quarterback prospects that anyone on Washington’s current roster.

That doesn’t mean this team will be ready for any sort of immediate success. Spending a high first-round pick on a new signal-caller means Washington will struggle to fill other holes on the roster this offseason. If the front office isn’t shrewd, their new young quarterback will struggle with the exact same personnel challenges that plagued Haskins.

Look for Washington’s front office to react strongly to their impending quarterback change with the rest of their moves in the offseason. That means the draft will feature lots of capital spent on players capable of strengthening the offense.

Adding a high-quality offensive tackle and another wide receiver should be huge priorities heading into the draft. That might cause the defense to suffer a little bit in terms of talent acquisition, but Rivera’s coaching ability should be trusted to overcome that issue.

The bottom line for Washington is that giving up on Haskins sets its roster rebuild back by at least one more season. It could turn out to be the right decision, but it’s going to be a painful process in the short term.