Gus Frerotte has seen Dwayne Haskins' struggles through the first three weeks of the 2020 season and believes the former Ohio State star can still make a 180 and win over his doubters.
Frerotte was in a quarterback battle of his own back in the mid 1990s with former Washington first-round pick Heath Shuler. Both signal callers were chosen by Washington in the 1994 NFL Draft, Shuler going third overall and Frerotte in the seventh round.
Frerotte didn't become the full-time starter until the 1995 season, and from there, was a mainstay in DC until the 1997 season.
Shuler had accolades similar to Haskins. College phenom, high-draft selection, and early struggles out of the gate. The difference between the two situations is Shuler and Frerotte were selected in the same draft by the same team with one coaching regime, and Haskins was selected by Washington's past regime, with Ron Rivera joining the team and trading for Kyle Allen, his quarterback from Carolina.
"It could be very similar, but I think what Dwayne has had that is different than what Heath (Shuler) and I went through," Frerotte told 106.7 The Fan's Chad Dukes. "Heath came in and missed all of training camp, held out for a larger salary and I got all those reps."
Shuler was given the opportunity to succeed in the nation's capital, but due to his dreadful performance, was eventually pulled in favor of Frerotte, who had won over fan sentiment.
One of the main issues that can be seen with Haskins' play through his first three games of the season is his predictability. Haskins has a tendency to stare down receivers, tipping off defenders to where the ball is going, leading to turnovers.
Frerotte seems to think the way Haskins was brought up at Ohio State may have led to these tendencies.
"I think that it kinda is everything," Frerotte said. "It's probably everything he learned at Ohio State and how they dealt with it. Was their offense one that you read half the field so you were staring down that way? Is this offense set different for him now that he’s got to go through his progressions and if he has a single-high, you’ve got to move the safety?"
"We’ve all been there. We’ve all made those throws, where we thought the safety wasn’t there and then he ends up being there for one reason or another; but that’s just stuff that you’ve got to learn. You have to have honest support from your coaching staff, where they don’t beat you up, but where they coach you and they teach you."
Frerotte hasn't lost hope in the WFT's young signal caller, and believes if the coaching staff can help him, by building up his confidence and working on his mechanics, Haskins still has a chance to play in this league for a long time.
"If he has that with the team now and the coaches he has, if they come in and they understand that he’s already feeling bad about not winning -- he’s a winner, he wants to win --- and if they can teach him how to do the right thing, then I think they’re going to have a good product on their hands."
Frerotte still wants to see what Haskins is able to accomplish with added reps.
" I think the sample size isn't big enough for me yet. I think you need some games in the NFL, you need to go through some struggles, and you need to face some difficulties to see where you are with that. Because, if you're always on top and you face difficulties when you're not expecting them, it's hard to overcome them."
"He's expecting to go through some of these with a new coaching staff and all that, but it's a small sample size. I want see him improve. I want to see him lead this team to be better, and I think he can do that."
Listen at the 10-minute mark below