Nobody ever knows for sure what will happen between a player and team when they agree upon a deal, though that never stops people from expressing their opinions—and there are varying degrees of probability in terms of being right.
I don’t expect that there are a lot of people expecting Dwayne Haskins to be the Pittsburgh Steelers’ franchise quarterback beginning in 2022, with the potential of keeping them competitive for championships. But you can’t know for sure without giving him a look, which is what their futures deal for him signed back in January amounts to.
A former first-round pick all the way back in the beforetime of 2019, Haskins went through a regime change in his short career, and between the two head coaches that he did have, neither particularly seemed to want him. Shawn Springs, who according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is something of a mentor for the young quarterback, believes being in Pittsburgh will make a difference.
“It’s like, hey, I get to go to a team that actually wants to work with me!”, he told Brian Batko for the paper. “People forget that’s what all young players want. People say it didn’t go well. He had no offseason. He started four games. And you expect him to look like Drew Brees? He had better numbers than Daniel Jones, but he just didn’t continue to play”.
Previously he had been referring to head coach Mike Tomlin, with whom he had shared conversations over the years and concluded that he was a “good dude”. I do think it stands to reason that the Steelers signed Haskins because they like him, even if they’re not sold on his ability to live up to his potential.
But at the very least, he figures to get something that at least resembles a fair shake. The 2021 season, almost surely, will be rooted in development, especially with Mason Rudolph still in place as Ben Roethlisberger’s backup, but neither are under contract for 2022.
And nobody else is under contract for 2021. Devlin Hodges is already gone, and Joshua Dobbs is about to become a free agent, without much of a hint of the team having any interest in re-signing him, meaning they intend for Haskins to be on the roster.
The Steelers have spoken highly of him since signing him in terms of his talent level, though they also haven’t ruled out the possibility of continuing to address the position—which probably consists of hoping that a quarterback falls to them in the draft, which is unlikely.
