Dwayne Haskins made Washington’s official starter

The Washington Football Team is squarely in the hands of Dwayne Haskins. The right hand, to be exact.

On Wednesday, the team announced Haskins will be the starting quarterback come Week 1 against the Philadelphia Eagles. The decision seemed a foregone conclusion from afar. However head coach Ron Rivera only made it official with 10 days to go until the opener.

Rivera talked about his call on Wednesday, per NFL.com, via the Huddle and Flow podcast.

“I really saw things that I liked. But there were also some things I felt he had to improve on. So I challenged him to do that back in January. And first thing he did was he transformed who he is, not just as an athlete, but he transformed his body physically and his mentality. And then you watch his progression and growth during camp. You know, you learn. I learned a lot about who he is in terms of his competitive spirit and wanting to be right, wanting to do good. And just really watched him and watched the young man progressing, grow. That to me was exciting. And it just showed me that he wants to be the guy.”

As a rookie first-round pick last year, Haskins started seven games and played in nine. The Ohio State product threw for 1,365 yards on 6.7 yards per attempt with seven touchdowns and seven interceptions, all while completing 58.6 percent of his throws.

Going into his second season, Haskins is helped by a stable head coach in Rivera. However, the Football Team doesn’t have much in the way of weapons, with only second-year receiver Terry McLaurin coming out of training camp as a proven threat.

Washington needs Haskins to be much, much better if it’s going to compete on a meaningful level. In 2019, Haskins only threw for more than 215 yards on one occasion, doing so in Week 15 against the Eagles in a 37-27 defeat. That game was part of a strong finish for the former Buckeye star, who threw four touchdowns and zero interceptions over the final two games.

Now, Dwayne Haskins is set as the starter from the jump for the first time in his career. It’s his franchise — for better or worse — trying to find his way after the team invested a top pick in him only a year ago.