There's been a lot of debate about how soon the Washington Redskins should play Dwayne Haskins, and former NFL quarterback David Carr is the latest to weigh in.
Legendary Redskins passer Joe Theismann said recently that the team should sit Haskins early on and not rush him along, and Carr was asked for his opinion on that recently on NFL Network, per Jordan Dajani of 247Sports.
“He's onto something,” Carr said about Theismann. “I don't know that they're a good enough team for him to be able to just roll in and then they win despite the quarterback. I think that to play a young quarterback, you have to be able to protect him from an offensive line standpoint and then he also has to be able to protect himself from a schematic standpoint. You have to have all the answers to all the questions that the defensive coordinators are going to give you and if you can do that, then you can put him out there, but if you can't do that, then you are going to put him in the situation where he's going to get hit.”
Carr might be the league's best example of a quarterback getting thrown in too early, so he knows what he's talking about. Carr was the first overall pick back in 2002, and he had a disastrous rookie season. He was overwhelmed and got sacked a record 76 times, and his career never recovered.
Given his own experiences, it makes sense why Carr would be cautious. That being said, it doesn't necessarily mean it's the right approach for Haskins. The Ohio State product won't be handed the job, but if he can beat out Case Keenum in camp, he shouldn't be held back either.
Haskins is definitely the team's future at the position, and they can't afford to spend too much time on Keenum. No matter what people say publicly, the organization is undoubtedly hoping that Haskins runs away with the job.