Dwayne Haskins had quite the chauffeur to his first Redskins training camp practice: Washington's other famous No. 7, Joe Theismann.
"I brought him over. I’m delivering him personally to practice," Theismann told 106.7 The Fan's Grant & Danny Thursday. "We just talked a little bit about this is really, for Dwayne, it’s the first day of the rest of his life ... it’s a whole new world. This is where it gets different.
"OTAs, minicamps, it’s pretty much (a) controlled environment. This’ll be a little bit more. You’ve got all the starters here, you’ve got the higher quality of guys as opposed to just a bunch of young kids are trying to figure out what’s going on -- not that they aren’t great athletes. It’s like any job, you have to understand what the job requires. You have to understand what the job’s about."
For Theismann, Haskins still has a lot to learn before he can start at QB for the Redskins. The Super Bowl champion quarterback was adamant that the Ohio State product is not ready yet.
"I listen to you guys talk about that. Dwayne is not ready to start," said Theismann. "And look at our first five games, let’s be realistic. Let’s be real, ok, instead of projecting. Because I hear you talk a lot about, ‘Well, he’s gonna play some time during the course of the year. Is he gonna be a starter?’ You have to have somebody that has experience to be able to start, ok? The young man’s played 13 football games. That’s number one."
Haskins was taken with the 15th overall pick in the NFL Draft by the Redskins, but his one year as a starter at Ohio State was certainly a concern for some teams. The New York Giants and Denver Broncos both passed on taking Haskins, who sounds as if he is ready to use that as motivation.
But Theismann noted that becoming a starting quarterback in the NFL is a process.
"I think the toughest position to play in any professional sport is quarterback," he said. "You talk to hockey players, basketball players, baseball players, they’ll tell you the same thing. It’s demanding not only physically, but it’s tremendously demanding mentally. And that’s the process that you have to go through."
Theismann also pointed to the Redskins' schedule and is not sure throwing Haskins into the gauntlet like that is the best move for the young quarterback or the team if they are trying to win.
"We open at Philadelphia, then we get the Cowboys at home, then we get the Bears at home, then we get the Giants in New York and then we get New England. Those are our first five games," he said. "Now logically, and like I said this has nothing to do with -- I love the kid -- but the process has to be gone through to get him to a point where he can lead the football team.
"Ryan Kerrigan put it very well: Landon Collins didn’t come here to be ready for 2034. He came here to play here and win now. And that’s what that football team to do. And that’s basically what Case (Keenum) and Colt (McCoy) can bring to the table, the experience of the position. And the experience is invaluable. You learn it by doing things well, you learn it by making mistakes. I think in Dwayne’s case, it’s just gonna be a process."