The 2019 NFL Draft was the most exciting draft that I looked forward to as A New York Giants fan. With the retirement of Eli Manning coming after the 2019-2020 season, big blue needed a new franchise star. Dwayne Haskins was the favorite to be drafted by the Giants with Kyler Murray as the number one pick. Haskins fit what the Giants needed, a star quarterback who can run, and he grew up as a Giants fan. Then, Daniel Jones shocked the football world as the Giants pick at #6 with Haskins falling to the Washington Football Team at pick #15. At that time, the whole country was talking about how the Giants failed. Now it has shifted to the Redskins failure but most importantly Haskins’s failure to live up to expectations.
Haskins had the potential to be the rookie of the year when he was drafted as he could’ve turned around the Washington Football Team. He had huge confidence and mental issues when on the field. He looked lost as he could not complete a short 5-yard pass. Also, his movement out of the pocket was not the same as it was at Ohio State.
Haskins has to fix these problems to finally get another chance to play or even start for another NFL team. It is hard to imagine what team would want to sign him with the upcoming draft and free-agent class. The Panthers showed interest in him before the season ended, but now their focus is on Deshaun Watson. Haskins needs to figure out his mentality on and off the field to get into the right mindset to revive his career.
Prediction
Haskins might settle for a backup job but if he can get everything right, he could get a chance to start a few games to show his improvement. A team that comes to mind to sign him is possibly the Pittsburgh Steelers to potentially replace Ben Roethlisberger. Also, the New England Patriots as well if they cannot find the quarterback they want. It will be interesting to see which team he goes to given the situation at quarterback, but for now, it’s a mystery.
If New England can turn him into a starting-caliber quarterback, it would be a challenging project for Bill Belichick. It wouldn’t be the first time he would start a new project though. Similar to Pittsburgh, if Mike Tomlin wanted to take a chance on him, he would have one of the best offenses to go into with James Conner, James Washington, Chase Claypool, Diontae Johnson, and depending on whether or not JuJu Smith-Schuster resigns. He would have the most weapons on an offense if he did sign with Pittsburgh to have a chance at the starting job in the near future. Also, Daniel Jones’s pick at #6 looks better on the Giants now depending on his future direction.