The Washington Football Team said it was aware of pictures on social media showing quarterback Dwayne Haskins at a strip club Sunday night while not wearing a mask, but will handle the issue internally.
Haskins tweeted an apology for his actions and said he spoke with coach Ron Rivera Monday and “took full responsibility for putting the team at risk. It was irresponsible and immature and I accept responsibility for my action.” He also issued an apology to his teammates for “creating a distraction during our playoff push.”
I also want to apologize for creating a distraction for my team during our playoff push. I will learn and grow from this and do what’s best for the team moving forward.
— Dwayne Haskins, Jr (@dh_simba7) December 22, 2020
The team also said it has made the league aware of the picture that was on Instagram, which was taken hours after he had started in Washington’s 20-15 loss to Seattle. Handling it internally likely means Haskins will be fined, as he was earlier this season when he violated COVID-19 protocols by making reservations for a family friend to stay at the team hotel the night before a game at the New York Giants.
The breach 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. However, one source said the team is optimistic that quarterback Alex Smith will return after missing one game with a strained right calf muscle. Smith suffered a strained calf in a Dec. 13 win over San Francisco, causing him to miss Sunday’s 20-15 loss.
Washington coach Ron Rivera wants to prevent this storyline from overtaking what’s at stake for the team: A chance to clinch the NFC East. Washington (6-8) can win the division if his team beats the Panthers and the New York Giants lose to the Baltimore Ravens.
On Monday, before the picture came to light, Rivera said about maintaining protocols: “That’ll be the thing that we will most certainly talk about as we get up into this. Where we are right now this late into the season, everything has gone so well. Let’s continue to focus in on staying clear of everything and staying healthy. Hopefully, we can maintain that and continue. We most certainly will talk about it.
Washington has not lost any players from its active roster to the reserve/COVID-19 list this season.
The latest situation with Haskins will cause the team to take a hard look in the offseason regarding his future with the organization. Washington drafted him with the 15th pick in the 2019 draft, a move spearheaded by owner Dan Snyder and not the scouts or coaching staff. Rivera’s staff inherited Haskins, but multiple sources said they felt they could make it work by challenging him.
With no preseason games, Rivera decided to give all the first-team reps to Haskins during training camp to fully prepare him for the season. He named him the starter in late August. Rivera said at the time had it been a normal offseason he would have had Haskins compete with Kyle Allen for the job. At the time, they weren’t sure what Smith would be able to do and had strongly considered placing him on injured reserve.
Haskins was benched after four games as multiple sources said they wanted to see better preparation from him during the week, among other things and to take a more mature approach. He was demoted to third string for four weeks but became the No. 2 quarterback after Kyle Allen suffered a leg injury on Nov. 9.