Dwayne Haskins is preparing to make his first NFL start since losing the starting quarterback job in Washington last season.
Now in Pittsburgh, Haskins will lead the Steelers against the Carolina Panthers (coincidentally, the last team he started against in Washington) for their preseason finale Friday night. The former 15th overall pick has been granted a new lease on his NFL career by a Pittsburgh coaching staff that can afford to bring him along slowly, as there's no need to rush with longtime starter Ben Roethlisberger back for his 18th season.
Haskins, 24, has had a solid preseason thus far that's impressed Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. He might very well unseat Mason Rudolph as Roethlisberger's primary backup. Haskins' relationship with his new coach staff seems genuine, and as he's noted in the past, he's happy to be in a a place where he's wanted.
So... what's with this shot at his former coaches?
On the surface, this probably looks a lot worse than it actually is. Especially if you're reading it from the perspective of a Washington Football Team fan. But Haskins never singles out any specific coach, or coaches. It's perhaps just as much of an indictment on Urban Meyer and Ryan Day as it is Ron Rivera and Jay Gruden.
A closer examination of the quotes within the full context with which they were said reveals a far more harmless tone. It starts with Haskins being asked if he's changed anything about the way he prepares for games, particularly in the way of off-the-field studying.
"I've always been the type of person, whether that was narrative or not, to watch film, staying late, come in early," Haskins began, addressing a narrative that was first floated publicly by Doug Williams, Washington's Senior VP of Player Development.
"Now I feel like, not necessarily I changed much as far as that aspect, but I feel like with this offense we do a lot of different things that can exploit a defense," Haskins continued, "whether it's vertical passing, play-action passes, bootleg game, RPOs, screens, all that stuff. So I think the biggest thing with me preparing is, now that I know... I think Coach Tomlin does a great job as far as giving you a scouting report of who you're playing that week. I've never really had that before.
"As far as being able to know: Who was the senior analysis coach? Who was the defensive coordinator? Who was the DB coach? What did he like to do? What techniques did the corners play? And we get that all before we even come into practice that week. So that's pretty cool, to be able to have a great jumpstart as far as what you're looking at and what you're seeing. So I feel like that definitely prepares me to go ahead and play against Carolina."
If this quote popped up on your WFT news feed, you can see where things maybe got lost in translation. Haskins appeared to be speaking more to the extra nuance of Pittsburgh's scouting reports, less so than whether he's ever been given a scouting report before (which would seem impossible).
Anyhow, you can see for yourself here. The quotes in question start around the 6:30 mark.
