Many across D.C. sports media were shocked to see Dwayne Haskins benched for Kyle Allen on Wednesday ahead of Washington's Week 5 game against the Rams.
It was so shocking, in part, because it's jarring any time a quarterback drafted 15th overall is benched, but many were also stunned to see Ron Rivera make the change so early in the season.
Washington is 1-3, good enough for second place in a historically terrible NFC East in 2020. Here's a snapshot of how people received the surprise news:
Good heavens https://t.co/xdsLBBCfDL
— danny rouhier (@funnydanny) October 7, 2020
Boy, that “In Ron We Trust” stuff went away pretty quickly, didn’t it?
— 🦇Vlad Dukes 🎃 (@chaddukes) October 7, 2020
Eric Bickel of The Sports Junkies figures Washington's coaching staff must have seen too much they didn't like from Haskins on tape that they couldn't ignore it.
While 106.7 The Fan's Grant Paulsen was surprised to see Haskins benched this early in the season, he believes the coaching staff did have a large enough sample of Haskins to make the move now.
Benching Dwayne Haskins is super ballsy for a couple reasons:
— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) October 7, 2020
1) Coaches normally shy away from fan/ media backlash. Lots of "he got a raw deal" takes today.
2) You're going to Kyle Allen. Not Josh Allen. Leaves you vulnerable if he struggles.
We are reacting to the breaking news of the morning. Dwayne Haskins has been benched and he will be the 3rd quarterback this weekend. Kyle Allen will get a shot to start against the Rams on Sunday.
— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) October 7, 2020
Listen live: https://t.co/WqJ1XNO6zY. pic.twitter.com/Z3niL5GOH5
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