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Dwayne Haskins on slipping to No. 15: ‘The league done messed up’
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Dwayne Haskins is out to prove teams wrong.
Entering Thursday night’s NFL Draft, Haskins was regarded as one of the top two quarterbacks available in this year’s class. When Kyler Murray went No. 1 overall to the Arizona Cardinals, the former Ohio State quarterback was expected to be selected by the New York Giants at No. 6.
The Giants did selected a quarterback with their sixth pick on Thursday night, but it wasn’t Haskins who heard his name called. Instead, it was Duke quarterback Daniel Jones who New York thought was the better fit.
Nine picks later, Haskins finally heard his name. He was taken by the Washington Redskins at No. 15, becoming the first B1G quarterback to get selected in the first round since Kerry Collins in 1995. Though Haskins will still be starting his NFL career close to home, he sent a pretty clear message to the teams that passed on him earlier in the night.
“To be honest, I’m more motivated now than ever,” Haskins told ESPN in an interview. “There’s a bigger chip on my shoulder. The league done messed up.”
New York’s decision to pass on Haskins and draft Jones was the surprise move of the draft. Though there were some concerns about Haskins’ experience, he seemed to be worth the risk considering his skill set and potential.
Haskins considered himself to be the best quarterback in this year’s draft. Not getting selected in the top 10 was probably discouraging for the former Buckeye. But he’s using all of that as fuel heading into his NFL career.
It should be a lot of fun to see how he develops in the league.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB