The Washington Football Team said it was aware of photos on social media showing quarterback Dwayne Haskins at a strip club on Sunday night without wearing a mask, and that the team will be handling the matter internally.
Haskins tweeted an apology, saying he spoke to coach Ron Rivera on Monday and “took full responsibility for endangering the team. It was irresponsible and immature and I accept responsibility for my action.” He also apologized to his teammates for “ causing a distraction during our playoff push. ”
Haskins later put his Twitter account on private.
The team said it notified the league of the photo posted on Instagram, taken hours after Haskins started in Washington’s 20-15 loss to Seattle. Handling the matter internally likely means Haskins will be fined, as earlier this season when he violated COVID-19 protocols by booking a family friend to stay at the team’s hotel the night before a road game against the New York Giants.
The breakthrough was caught before the person arrived, but Haskins was still fined $ 4,833.
It’s uncertain what this means for Haskins when Washington hosts the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. A source said the team is optimistic that quarterback Alex Smith will return after missing a game with a strained right calf muscle. Smith was injured in a December 13 victory over San Francisco, missing out against Seattle.
Rivera wants to keep the Haskins storyline from overshadowing what’s at stake for the team: a chance to conquer the NFC East. Washington (6-8) can win the division if his team beats the Panthers and the Giants lose to the Baltimore Ravens.
On Monday, before the photo came to light, Rivera said of protocol enforcement, “That’s going to be the thing we’ll definitely be talking about when we start with this. Where we are so late in the season now, everything has so “Well gone. Let’s keep focusing on staying out of everything and staying sane. Hopefully we can keep that up and keep going.
Washington has not lost any players from its active squad to the reserve / COVID-19 list this season.
The latest situation with Haskins will ensure that the team will look closely at its future with the organization in the off-season. Washington selected him with the 15th pick in the 2019 design, a move led by owner Dan Snyder and not the scouts or coaching staff. Rivera’s staff inherited Haskins, and multiple sources said they thought they could make it work by challenging him.
With no preseason games, Rivera decided to hand over all first team reps to Haskins during training camp to fully prepare him for the season. Rivera named Haskins the starter at the end of August. Rivera said at the time that if it had been a normal off-season, he would have let Haskins compete with Kyle Allen for the job. At the time, they weren’t sure what Smith might do after missing the previous season due to a broken leg, and had strongly considered putting him on an injured reserve.
Haskins was crated after four games because multiple sources said they wanted to see better preparation from him during the week and take a more mature approach. He was relegated to the third series for four weeks, but became the No. 2 quarterback after Allen sustained a leg injury on November 9.