Dwayne Haskins can break the Redskins quarterback curse

The Washington Redskins finally have a franchise QB, but how long will it be before Dwayne Haskins is ‘the guy’ for them?

Since Redskins rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins was born in May 1997, Washington has had three quarterbacks start a full 16-game schedule.

In 1999, Brad Johnson did it. In 2008 and 2009, Jason Campbell did it. Then from 2015-17, Kirk Cousins started every game for Washington.

Although a variety of players have shown promise through the years for the Redskins at the quarterback position, it’s become apparent the position is a serious problem area for the team. Fans are longing for the glory days of the 80s and 90s when the franchise won its first three Super Bowl titles.

The Redskins used first-round draft picks on Patrick Ramsey (2002), Jason Campbell (2005), Robert Griffin III (2012), and now Haskins (2019).

It looked like the Redskins had something really special in RG3, who was the NFL’s rookie of the year in 2012, but it was a short-lived excitement as Griffin was injured in the playoffs and he has never been the same player since.

Washington even seemed to have a ‘franchise’ caliber QB in Kirk Cousins, but he constantly let them down in big games and the team couldn’t justify giving him a long-term contract despite paying him a ton of money on two franchise tags.

The Redskins have tried signing, trading for, drafting, and acquiring quarterbacks just about any way possible to kill a curse that is moving into a third decade now.

Dwayne Haskins can be the guy to turn things around. As a matter of fact, I’m fairly confident he will be that guy. Why?

Haskins has the ‘it’ factor, the confidence, and the arm. All he needs now is to prove he can do it on Sundays.

Haskins, by most accounts, is progressing rather quickly this offseason for the Redskins. That should come as no surprise considering Haskins quickly adjusted to playing major college football with Ohio State, absolutely dominating his first and only year as a starter, finishing as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.

Haskins has been a natural when the pressure is high. Ironically, escaping pressure could be his great weakness as a quarterback, but not folding under the pressure of being a quarterback for an organization with very high expectations is something Haskins seems prepared to do quite easily.

He exudes confidence. He backs that confidence up with absolutely perfect throws on the field.

Haskins is going to make some mistakes, but he didn’t take too many questionable risks at Ohio State. He did his job reading the defense, reading and understanding how to exploit the coverage, and making all of the throws.

The Redskins don’t really need another quarterback who can just play things safe. No offense to Alex Smith, but he’s consistently been a guy who can keep a ship afloat, but the Redskins are trying to reached the promised land again, and you can’t do that if you’re just trying to keep the boat from sinking.

They finally have a quarterback who can push the ship forward. They finally have a quarterback who has the ability to take over games with his arm. They finally have a quarterback period.

Haskins is the most talented prospect to come to Washington since RG3, and he’s the best pure passer to come in as a draft pick since, well, probably since before Haskins was even born.

This is the guy to break the curse.