Dwayne Haskins was running from two de-
fenders when seeing an open target in the middle
of the field. No matter he was running right and
throwing left on a play the Redskins don’t envision
using this season. The ball was a frozen rope to
the receiver for a completion.
Yes, he just did that.
Washington’s first-round quarterback made a
strong bid during offseason camps to become the
starter this fall over veteran Case Keenum in a new
version of “The old man and we’ll see.” The Red-
skins haven’t seen such a quarterback competition
since Jason Campbell emerged over Mark Brunell
in 2006.
It’s not easy to say who’s ahead. In fact, coaches
don’t have a public pecking order entering train-
ing camp. Just two new quarterbacks plus Colt
McCoy whenever healthy after three operations on
a broken leg from last season trying to re-join the
team.
“We’re not even thinking about that right now
to be honest with you,” said coach Jay Gruden
during minicamp. “We’re giving them equal reps.
We don’t really have a ones or a twos right now.
We’re switching in the receivers, subbing them in.
Doesn’t matter who’s out there for tight ends. You
know, I think we’ll start to get some true first-team
reps when we have a first team on offense. Right
now, we really don’t. We’ll start to do that once
training camp hits.”
Each quarterback looked solid in passing situ-
ations, though there were uneven moments as
both passers learned teammates’ traits. But Trey
Quinn soared across the field while Cam Sims
made plenty of big plays downfield. It didn’t mat-
ter who was throwing the ball, but after any big
play thoughts always drifted back to who threw it.
In offseason camps, no favoritism was shown
despite the heavier investment in Haskins. The
Redskins can’t afford to whiff on another quarter-
back and Haskins has shown no signs the team
chose poorly. For now, Gru-
den and staff just watch and
learn before returning to
training camp on July 25.
“You know, this is just
part of the process really,”
Gruden said. “For me to
make a determination on
the starting quarterback
after mini-camp or manda-
tory camp is just kind of
foolish. We’ll let these guys
continue to play and see
which one continues to im-
prove, which one is most
consistent throughout the training camp and pre-
season and we’ll go from there. I promise you I feel8 Warpath AUGUST 6, 2019
Picking passer won’t be easy
By Rick SniderTOUGH
DECISION
First-rounder
Dwayne Haskins has
impressed Washing-
ton’s coaching staff
this offseason, but
will it be enough to
score him the start-
ing spot.USA TODAY Sports/GEOFF BURKE