Should the Broncos put in a waiver claim on Dwayne Haskins?

Should the Broncos put in a waiver claim on Dwayne Haskins?

Not every player who hits the waiver wire is going to be the subject of a full speculative post, but Washington quarterback and former first-round pick Dwayne Haskins is worthy of the discussion.

As much as Haskins has struggled in his first two NFL seasons, he was a first-round pick in 2019 and someone the Broncos thought highly enough of to bring to Denver for an official visit/interview leading up to the 2019 NFL Draft.

As a matter of fact, Haskins boldly wore a John Elway jersey to his interview at that time.

There was a lot of talk about the Broncos being a legitimate option at 10 overall for Haskins in that draft.

Haskins’ flattery of John Elway did not result in the Broncos selecting him with the 10th overall pick, but the team moved down off of that pick and wound up taking Noah Fant, Dalton Risner, and Drew Lock with their top three selections instead.

No matter how much the Broncos liked Haskins in the 2019 draft process, things change over time. Haskins has not been good for the Washington Football Team on the field and has recently come under fire for some of his actions off the field as well.

Even after being fined $40K, Haskins was the starter in Washington’s most recent game with Alex Smith injured. He did not finish the game and was released the day after.

Haskins was drafted by a different regime in Washington, so Ron Rivera’s crew had no attachment to him from a draft investment perspective. With that said, everyone in Washington obviously hoped the former first-round pick could work out his issues.

Unfortunately, things have gotten worse for him.

Now comes the question of what’s next?

What is next for Haskins? Will he be claimed on waivers by another team? With his contract, that’s not at all impossible.

From a financial perspective, that is inexpensive for a backup/developmental quarterback. It won’t cost any claiming team draft capital, so the question should be raised — do the Broncos think about making this move?

It’s important to consider that John Elway, Matt Russell, and the other top deputies in the Broncos’ front office had extensive pre-draft work on Haskins. Vic Fangio was also with them for those discussions in his first year as an NFL head coach.

It’s also critical to note that Pat Shurmur and the New York Giants seriously considered Haskins before ultimately taking Daniel Jones with their top pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

So, you have a front office and coaching staff that has already passed on Haskins once. Now that a first-round pick is not involved, would they consider changing course and bringing him in?

There is undoubtedly some upside with Haskins, but with his on-field performance and recent off-field issues, the timing doesn’t seem to be right for the Broncos to add him to the fray.

Not to mention, the Broncos already have a young quarterback they are heavily invested in with Drew Lock. Lock’s development is key to the future of the franchise, and if bringing in Haskins would do anything to derail that because the Broncos had to pay more attention to him (on the field or off) and take attention off of Lock, that’s not a great situation to be in.

While the upside flyer and price are very tempting unless someone in the Broncos’ building had Haskins as QB1 in 2019 personally and wants to stake their job on bringing him in, and that’s almost assuredly not happening.

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Hopefully Haskins, who is still just 23, can learn from this awful experience and become a better player and leader on and off the field for