While his fall in the draft wasn’t as dramatic as others that we’ve seen out of quarterbacks on draft night in years past, Ohio State signal caller Dwayne Haskins went a little bit later than some might have anticipated. Viewed as a potential top-10 pick, Haskins remained on the board until pick number 15 rolled around.
He ended up in a pretty good spot — he’s from Maryland, ended up in Washington, and may get the chance to sit and learn before he’s asked to take the field behind guys like Case Keenum and/or Colt McCoy. But still, seeing as two quarterbacks went ahead of him, Haskins wasn’t in the best of moods when he spoke to ESPN on Thursday night.
“I’m more motivated than ever, there’s a bigger chip on my shoulder, the league done messed up,” Haskins said, according to John Keim. “I’m right down the street, so we’re going to do it right this time. So it’s crazy.”
Any competitor is, obviously, going to say that players being picked ahead of them was a mistake. Haskins went behind No. 1 overall pick Kyler Murray, who’s headed to the Arizona Cardinals, and sixth pick Daniel Jones, whose selection by the New York Giants raised some eyebrows. You can make the case that Haskins is the best prospect of the bunch, as he’s a refined passer who put up gigantic numbers during his one year as the starting signal caller in Columbus, but the two teams that needed signal callers ahead of Washington decided that wasn’t the case.
The NFL Draft is a gigantic crapshoot, so we won’t be able to accurately determine if these were the right picks or not for years. But if you ask Haskins, he’s confident the teams that went before Washington made a mistake by letting him fall.
