Dwayne Haskins has not exactly had the best season of his career thus far. Just recently, the Washington Football Team quarterback was dropped from the starting lineup by coach Ron Rivera, which to some, was a clear indication of the coach's lack of confidence in the 23-year-old.

Rivera was asked about this exact notion in a recent interview, and the veteran coach reiterated how he certainly has not lost hope in his young QB:

“Again, as I said, I have not quit on the kid as far as his development,” Rivera told reporters Wednesday, via Ethan Cadeaux of NBC Sports. “This is an opportunity for him to continue to learn and grow and develop.”

Unfortunately for Haskins, not only was he dropped to the bench, but Rivera actually demoted him to a third-string QB role. Kyle Allen was given the nod as the starter, while Alex Smith was promoted as his reserve. According to Rivera, these changes were more of a tactical decision:

“The thing that we’ve done is we’ve looked at where we are and said: ‘Hey, these guys give us a better chance to win right now because they know what we do, they understand the system and they’ve been in the system.

“I thought these guys with their knowledge of what we do gives us a better chance,” Rivera continued. “This is a pretty interesting set of circumstances these next five games.”

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The good news here for Haskins is that he still appears to be on his coach's good graces. Then again, Rivera did imply that this experiment is going to last for at least the next five games, so Haskins might just be in the doghouse longer than initially expected.

Nevertheless, Rivera continued to defend Haskins, explaining how the former Ohio State standout just needs to get more reps in:

“Dwayne’s a young man that’s learning and growing. He hasn’t been in the system,” Rivera said. “He hasn’t had the benefit of a full offseason. He hasn’t had the benefit of a true training camp. Based on what I saw, I made the decision to make the switch.”

Needless to say, this is not an ideal situation for Haskins. At this point, however, he seems to have no other choice but to just keep his head down and continue to fight his way to the starting lineup.