There was a mildly surprising story out of Washington this week that the team may be interested in making a run at Philip Rivers. Surprising in that the team drafted Dwayne Haskins in the first round a year ago; would be unusual to move on from their young quarterback so quickly. Except Arizona did it just a year ago with Josh Rosen.
Like Rosen as a rookie, the jury is very much out on Haskins. While the other first-round quarterbacks, Kyler Murray and Daniel Jones, had some big games along the way in their rookie season, Haskins did very little. In seven starts he had one game with even 215 passing yards. He had as many starts with zero touchdowns (3) as more than one. Among quarterbacks who started at least 7 games last year, no one averaged fewer fantasy points than Haskins (1 point for every 20 passing yards and 10 rushing yards, 4-point TD passes).
| QUARTERBACK FANTASY POINTS PER GAME, 2019 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | PYd | TDP | RYd | TDR | Pts |
| Lamar Jackson, Balt. | 15 | 208.5 | 2.40 | 80.4 | .47 | 30.9 |
| Jameis Winston, T.B. | 16 | 319.3 | 2.06 | 15.6 | .06 | 26.7 |
| Ryan Tannehill, Ten. | 10 | 259.8 | 2.20 | 18.1 | .40 | 26.2 |
| Matthew Stafford, Det. | 8 | 312.4 | 2.38 | 8.3 | .00 | 25.9 |
| Deshaun Watson, Hou. | 15 | 256.8 | 1.73 | 27.5 | .53 | 25.9 |
| Dak Prescott, Dall. | 16 | 306.4 | 1.88 | 17.3 | .19 | 25.8 |
| Patrick Mahomes, K.C. | 14 | 287.9 | 1.86 | 15.6 | .14 | 24.4 |
| Daniel Jones, NYG | 12 | 250.8 | 2.00 | 22.8 | .17 | 24.2 |
| Russell Wilson, Sea. | 16 | 256.9 | 1.94 | 21.4 | .19 | 24.0 |
| Drew Brees, N.O. | 11 | 270.8 | 2.45 | -.4 | .09 | 23.9 |
| Matt Ryan, Atl. | 15 | 297.7 | 1.73 | 9.8 | .07 | 23.3 |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick, Mia. | 13 | 259.1 | 1.46 | 18.3 | .31 | 22.6 |
| Kyler Murray, Ariz. | 16 | 232.6 | 1.25 | 34.0 | .25 | 21.9 |
| Josh Allen, Buff. | 16 | 193.1 | 1.25 | 31.9 | .56 | 21.6 |
| Carson Wentz, Phil. | 16 | 252.4 | 1.69 | 15.2 | .06 | 21.5 |
| Andy Dalton, Cin. | 13 | 268.8 | 1.23 | 5.6 | .31 | 21.1 |
| Jared Goff, LAR | 16 | 289.9 | 1.38 | 2.5 | .13 | 21.0 |
| Gardner Minshew, Jac. | 12 | 237.4 | 1.50 | 27.5 | .00 | 21.0 |
| Aaron Rodgers, G.B. | 16 | 250.1 | 1.63 | 11.4 | .06 | 20.9 |
| Philip Rivers, LAC | 16 | 288.4 | 1.44 | 1.8 | .00 | 20.5 |
| Jimmy Garoppolo, S.F. | 16 | 248.6 | 1.69 | 3.9 | .06 | 20.2 |
| Tom Brady, N.E. | 16 | 253.6 | 1.50 | 2.1 | .19 | 20.1 |
| Kyle Allen, Car. | 12 | 252.3 | 1.42 | 8.4 | .17 | 20.1 |
| Kirk Cousins, Min. | 15 | 240.2 | 1.73 | 4.2 | .07 | 19.9 |
| Baker Mayfield, Cle. | 16 | 239.2 | 1.38 | 8.8 | .19 | 19.6 |
| Sam Darnold, NYJ | 13 | 232.6 | 1.46 | 4.8 | .15 | 19.3 |
| Derek Carr, Oak. | 16 | 253.4 | 1.31 | 5.1 | .13 | 19.2 |
| Jacoby Brissett, Ind. | 15 | 196.1 | 1.20 | 15.2 | .27 | 17.9 |
| Mitchell Trubisky, Chi. | 15 | 209.2 | 1.13 | 12.9 | .13 | 17.2 |
| Mason Rudolph, Pitt. | 8 | 190.5 | 1.25 | 4.4 | .00 | 15.0 |
| Joe Flacco, Den. | 8 | 227.8 | .75 | 2.5 | .00 | 14.9 |
| Case Keenum, Was. | 8 | 193.6 | 1.25 | 1.5 | .00 | 14.8 |
| Dwayne Haskins, Was. | 7 | 175.0 | 1.00 | 11.1 | .00 | 14.2 |
Haskins was a rookie thrust into a bad situation. Washington had a couple of different head coaches last year, with Jay Gruden fired midseason, and its franchise tackle held out all season. Case Keenum, note, was only incrementally better in his eight starts.
But Haskins showed little enough that Washington bringing in another quarterback, either a veteran or one of the NFL Draft's top passers, can't be ruled out. Arizona did it with Murray, perhaps Washington will be infatuated with Justin Herbert or Tua Tagovailoa, should the Bengals take Joe Burrow.
Most expectations have Washington instead going with Ohio State defender Chase Young, and that's probably more likely. But if the team isn't sold on Haskins, better to move on quickly than too late to draft his replacement.
--Andy Richardson