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The Washington Football Team cut ties with Dwayne Haskins on Monday afternoon, a mere 20 months after taking Haskins in the first round out of Ohio State.
The release comes less than 24 hours after Haskins struggled and was benched for Washington in a Week 16 loss to the Panthers. In the past week, Haskins was involved with reported maskless attendance at a strip club, a $40K fine, being stripped of his WFT captaincy, being benched and now finally being released. Haskins officially goes on waivers following the Monday transaction.
In a statement, Washington coach Ron Rivera said, “This afternoon I met with Dwayne and informed him that we would be releasing him. I told him that I believe it benefits both parties that we go our separate ways.”
Here’s more about what transpired with Haskins that led to his release.
MORE: Dwayne Haskins’ benching caps brutal week
Why did the Washington release Dwayne Haskins?
Haskins release follows a tumultuous week for the 2019 15th overall pick. He reportedly attended a strip club without wearing a mask. That resulted in a $40,000 fine and subsequent taking away of his captain title with the WFT. Then, Haskins completed half his passes with two interceptions and a fumble lost before Rivera pulled him for Taylor Heinicke on Sunday.
It hasn’t been smooth sailing for Haskins in his two-season Washington tenure, making these final bumps in the road just the cherry on top for his release. Haskins started seven games as a rookie, going 2-5 with seven touchdowns and seven interceptions. Things didn’t get better in 2020, as Washington was 1-5 in Haskins’ six starts while he threw five touchdowns compared to seven interceptions.
Haskins couldn’t capture the accurate passing he’d displayed at Ohio State, completing 60.1 percent of his passes with Washington after completing 70.0 percent during his Ohio State career. Washington had already benched Haskins earlier in 2020 in favor of Kyle Allen. After Allen was injured, Alex Smith took over instead of Haskins, and now he’s been benched again for Heinicke.
Working against Haskins was the hiring of Rivera before the 2020 season, meaning the crew that had selected Haskins wasn’t in place anymore. Rivera brought Allen and Heinicke with him from Carolina, giving him more personal investment in them than in Haskins.
Rivera had already held a Monday morning press conference prior to the news of Haskins’ release. He acknowledged in that presser that Haskins has talent, according to The Washington Post, but a few of his words stand out especially strongly now that Washington has released Haskins.
“Sometimes you have to go through some hard knocks,” Rivera said. “Sometimes you have to reach rock bottom.”
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