Washington coach Ron Rivera said on Monday that Alex Smith will be part of the quarterback competition if he’s healthy, and today Dwayne Haskins said he welcomes that competition.
Haskins said he’s looking forward to the opportunity, in which the 36-year-old Smith may make the 23-year-old Haskins better.
“I’m excited for Alex,” Haskins said, via Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post. “I hope he gets back to full 100 percent health. Whoever is in the quarterback room, I have to compete with, and even though he’s not really practicing with the offense, he’s still working hard, and even if we get to run against each other in competition and drills, I’m trying to make sure he gets me better and I get him better. We look at Alex as somebody who’s a mentor in the room that can help us every day as far as getting ready for who we’re playing each week and who we’re getting ready for next week.”
That’s the right attitude from Haskins. Just because he was a first-round pick a year ago, that doesn’t mean he’s going to be handed anything. And he doesn’t want to be handed anything.