Ron Rivera’s revelation that Washington intends to meet with two of the top quarterback prospects stole the headlines. But the new Washington head coach also praised his current quarterback, who was the 15th overall choice last year.
Dwayne Haskins started seven games last season, throwing seven touchdowns and seven interceptions.
“I think we have a very good, young player,” Rivera said Wednesday, via JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington. “The more we break down, the more we learn about him, I think it puts us in a pretty good spot. I am excited about him. One thing that I have seen is his commitment. He’s been around a lot. When I make my rounds during the day, and I’ll walk by the weight room, there he is. I walk by the locker room, there he is. That to me is a sign of a young man that is learning he needs to be around.”
It was the most positive comments Rivera has had about Haskins thus far.
Since he took the job, Rivera has made no promises to Haskins. On Wednesday, Rivera broke the news of the team’s plans to meet with LSU’s Joe Burrow and Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa.
He called it more than due diligence.
“Everything is an option,” Rivera said. “We’re not closing the door on anything. One of the things that Kyle [Smith] and I talked about is that we have to go through this process because you don’t know what’s going to happen in front of you and we don’t know what’s going to happen with you. So we’re going to go through and Tua is one of the guys that were bringing in, just so everybody knows. We’re bringing in Burrow and were bringing in Tua, and we will see both of their workouts. That’s just the way it is. You just don’t know, so we’re going to prepare and we’re going to get ourselves ready. We’re going to obviously look at some of the other players, we’re going to look at Chase [Young]. We’re going to look at the corners, we’re going to look at everybody.”
Washington is expected to select Young, the Ohio State pass rusher, but Rivera’s comments were a clear signal that the team will listen to all trade offers for the second choice.