Jay Gruden reveals what really happened when drafting Haskins originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington.
There have been plenty of stories floating around on what Dan Synder and the Washington Football Team wanted to do with the 15th pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.
On The Athletic’s Standig Room Only podcast with Ben Standig. Jay Gruden shared what really happened and the thought process behind selecting Dwayne Haskins.
Alex Smith hurt badly five months before in a 2018 game against the Houston Texans and no one knew if he’d play again. Haskins was a local kid from Bullis Prep and a star at Ohio State. Washington’s coaching staff thought the organization might have been able to get a quarterback later if. They lost out on Haskins by not taking him at No. 15 overall UFABET.
“It’s not the end of the world we took Dwayne, we just didn’t think we had to take him that high. We thought we might have been able to get him later.”
Still, Smith was a big question mark at the time. Maybe if the staff knew he’d definitely be back that would have changed the equation. In the end, Washington decided to take Haskins and it just didn’t work out. Gruden fired early in the 2019 season. Haskins released late in 2020.