PFF analyst: Haskins was 'a disaster' Sunday. Here's how it can improve originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
According to Pro Football Focus analyst Sam Monson, Dwayne Haskins had produced five turnover-worthy plays in his NFL career heading into Sunday's matchup with the Browns.
That afternoon, Haskins registered six turnover-worthy plays in just four quarters.
During an interview with the Sports Junkies on Tuesday, Monson pointed to that stat, and a few other factors, to conclude that Week 3 was "Dwayne Haskins at his worst."
"That was concerning," Monson told the Junkies. "Whatever about how he had been before that game and whether there was development happening or where he landed on that spectrum, Sunday was just a disaster against the Browns."
"For every good thing he did, it took him two attempts to do it," he said. "He'd miss the guy the first time, then he'd connect on the second time. Then he'd offset every good play with a bad mistake."
After the ugly effort in Cleveland, some of Washington's fan base is seriously questioning whether Haskins will ever become a legit NFL starter. Even Ron Rivera acknowledged that there'll be a "cut-off point" for the former first-rounder, where the head coach chooses to move on from him. No, Rivera hasn't arrived to that spot yet, but him bringing that idea up felt significant on its own.
Later on in his appearance with the Junkies, Monson was asked how often a QB is able to recover from such a poor beginning to his career and turn into someone a franchise can build around. His answer wasn't very assuring.
"One of the worst rookie seasons we've ever seen was Matthew Stafford," he said. "His grade his first year was atrocious. He's really the only one that's had a terrible rookie grade and bounced back to being a completely different player. The rest of the guys on that list are quarterbacks that almost immediately dive out of the league. It's Blaine Gabbert, it's Blake Bortles, it's those kinds of guys.
"At some point you want to see that development. And right now, the concerning thing with Haskins is he's heading the other direction. There's no signs of development or improvement. He's just had the worst game of his career and it's not like the rest of the season had been particularly impressive either."
Not all of Monson's thoughts were wholly on the negative side. He, like many others who evaluate Haskins, allowed that there are "glimmers" of quality from No. 7.
He also identified one way in which Washington can do more to assist him going forward.
"Trying to help Haskins out in terms of play design and just giving him some free yards," Monson said. "Patrick Mahomes is the greatest quarterback in the NFL, one of the greatest of all time already, and yet you watch what the Chiefs offense does, and there's still a ton of plays in that offense that are free yardage for Patrick Mahomes, that are schemed up, that are just wins by the play design and all Mahomes has to do is not screw it up."
"Haskins isn't getting that," he continued. "Let's throw him a lifeline."
The lifeline, and some growth, needs to come soon. Haskins constantly says that he has no issue blocking out the outside noise regarding his production, but that noise is turning up more and more. It'd be nice if he came up with a reason for it to quiet back down.
