Dwayne Haskins received some humbling news on Monday, one day after the worst performance of his NFL career.
The Washington Football Team was releasing Haskins, not even two full seasons after selecting him 15th overall in the 2019 NFL Draft.
"My time with the WFT has unfortunately come to an end," Haskins wrote on his Twitter account, which is now private. "I thank the team & fans for the opportunity to play for the team I grew up rooting for. I take full responsibility for not meeting the standards of a NFL QB & will become a better man & player because of this experience."
It would be hard to imagine Haskins not feeling humbled from the optics alone. With a miserable performance against Carolina, completing a woeful 50 percent of his 28 passes for 154 yards, two interceptions and a lost fumble, Haskins was replaced on the field in the fourth quarter by Taylor Heinicke, who earlier this year was a backup in the XFL. With the NFC East title on the line, Haskins faltered, only to be benched by someone who wasn't even on the team three weeks ago.
This comes after a week of public humiliation for Haskins, who, the night of Washington's Week 15 loss to Seattle, was caught breaking COVID-19 protocols — on a team that's adhered to them religiously, in light of head coach Ron Rivera's cancer diagnosis this fall — by appearing mask-less with strippers hours later. Haskins was stripped of his captaincy and fined $40K, a public flogging that was quickly undercut by Haskins still starting the next game days later.
"It was definitely the hardest week of my life," Haskins told reporters from his home (a debacle in its own right) after losing to the Panthers. "I'm just going to bounce back and move forward, pray and get my life together."
If last week was the hardest of his life, Haskins better strap in, because he's about to reach a new all-time low.
Or, as Rivera put it mere hours before releasing Haskins: "Sometimes you have to reach rock bottom before you can dig your way back out of it. Sometimes change helps. But with Dwayne, it's, 'What have you learned?' What are you going to take from these experiences that are going to help you grow and get better? That's the big thing with him."
This is undeniably rock bottom for Haskins. The question the rest of his NFL career will depend on is: what have you learned?
