ESPN’s Kimes questions logic behind moving on from Haskins originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Much has been made of the Washington Football Team’s decision to replace Dwayne Haskins as starting quarterback with Kyle Allen after only four games this season. While the move has been analyzed and dissected in every way possible locally, the Washington Football Talk podcast got a national perspective when they welcomed ESPN’s Mina Kimes this week.
“It’s not like they’re moving on from Haskins to even like a Ryan Fitzpatrick who is going to win you games in an obviously hilariously competitive division,” Kimes said. “I don’t think Kyle Allen is better than him, frankly. I think Kyle Allen at times has put together better stretches of play, I think he’s shown more of a consistent propensity for turnovers over the course of his career at Carolina and now in Washington.”
“The kind of football team Washington is, the best-case scenario for them going into this season was going to be to have a top ten defense and a quarterback who didn’t make things worse. So when you have a quarterback that turns the ball over as much as Allen does, you’re really hurting yourself in that regard.”
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Allen has thrown one interception and lost one fumble in two starts this season, Meanwhile, Haskins had his share of ups and downs, from leading a season-opening win over the Eagles to throwing three interceptions against the Browns in Week 3. Many expected more out of the second-year signal-caller after he finished with 131.2 passer rating in his last two starts of 2019.
“I was really optimistic about Haskins based on what we saw in the final two games of last season,” Kimes said. “He looked like a different quarterback, he really looked like the guy we saw at Ohio State at times. Obviously, at the beginning of this year it was disappointing, he didn’t play well. I’m not one of those people who say it’s so crazy for them to move on from Haskins, how could they do that, he had no chance to succeed – he didn’t play well.”
The Washington Football team currently sits just a game out of first place in the NFC East, but it doesn’t feel that way. Nationally, the quarterback drama in the nation’s capital seems to viewed with an eye towards the future.
Gosh, its so hard to choose, right?” Kimes said. “I still don’t quite understand the decision, and I think at this point Washington fans are just kind of hoping for next year.”