Dwayne Haskins will start in Steelers’ final preseason game
The Steelers will start quarterback Dwayne Haskins in Friday night’s final preseason game in Carolina, but rookie running back Najee Harris will be among the many starters who will not play for the Steelers.
Coach Mike Tomlin said Ben Roethlisberger and Mason Rudolph will not play against the Panthers, leaving Haskins and Josh Dobbs to split the duties.
Tomlin said the Panthers are expected to play many of their regulars, allowing him to get a better look against good competition for Haskins.
“I’m excited about giving him an opportunity and maybe see some reps against Carolina’s first group,” Tomlin said Wednesday morning before practice. “I’m just interested in seeing him play more. He’s new to us so the additional reps are good for him and for us to get to know him.”
Tomlin said before the Hall of Fame game he intended to use Harris, the Steelers’ No. 1 draft choice, in every preseason game. But he has changed his mind and will not use him in Carolina. Benny Snell, who has played sparingly in the preseason because of injury, will start.
“It’s an opportunity for him to do the things that feature runners do and prove his health and things of that nature,” Tomlin said.
However, Tomlin did indicate that most of his starters on the offensive line will play because they have had little time to work together as a group because of injuries. All five starters played together for the first time in Saturday’s victory against the Detroit Lions.
“It’s another opportunity for our offensive line to gain cohesion,” Tomlin said. “Many of those guys will play.”
Tomlin would not confirm if veterans such as new inside linebacker Joe Schobert or backup outside linebacker Melvin Ingram will play against the Panthers. But he did say rookie Tre Norwood will get a look at nickel back after spending most of the preseason at safety.
Using Norwood, a seventh-round draft choice, in the slot has been part of the team’s plan all along and is not related to the release of Antoine Brooks Jr., Tomlin said. Brooks was waived injured Tuesday.
“We won’t play a lot of our regulars. … We’ll move them out of the way to provide more snaps for others,” Tomlin said. “I understand Carolina will play their regulars, so there will be no speculation. Those guys will get an opportunity to pit their skills and preparedness and techniques against varsity.”
Dwayne Haskins to start Steelers’ next preseason game
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Dwayne Haskins
 Haskins with the Washington Football Team in 2020
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| No. 3 – Pittsburgh Steelers | |||||||||
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| Position: | Quarterback | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | May 3, 1997 Highland Park, New Jersey |
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| Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 218 lb (99 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Bullis School (Potomac, Maryland) | ||||||||
| College: | Ohio State (2016–2018) | ||||||||
| NFL Draft: | 2019 / Round: 1 / Pick: 15 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Roster status: | Active | ||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics as of 2020 | |||||||||
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| Player stats at NFL.com · PFR | |||||||||
Dwyane Haskins #7 of the Ohio State Buckeyes throws a pass in the second quarter against the Northwestern Wildcats at Lucas Oil Stadium on December 01, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Dwayne Haskins Jr. (born May 3, 1997) is an American football quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ohio State University, where he threw 50 touchdowns in 2018, his lone starting season, one of just seven quarterbacks to reach the milestone in a single NCAA season. He won several Big Ten conference awards and was named a finalist for the Maxwell Award and Heisman Trophy. Haskins was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft.
Born Dwayne Haskins Jr. on May 3, 1997 in Highland Park, New Jersey, he and his family moved to Potomac, Maryland when he was in the ninth grade. There, he attended and played football at Bullis School from 2013–2016, where he passed for 5,308 yards and 54 touchdowns. He originally committed to the University of Maryland over Rutgers University to play college football, but later decided to attend Ohio State after Maryland football coach Randy Edsall was fired mid-season.
College career
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Haskins redshirted his first year at Ohio State in 2016. The following year, he was the backup to J. T. Barrett. He finished the season completing 40 of 57 passes for 565 yards and four touchdowns. Haskins then went on to have a record-setting campaign in his sophomore season in 2018, which was his lone starting season at the school. He claimed the single season passing and touchdown records for Ohio State and the Big Ten by eclipsing the 4,000-passing yards mark and throwing 50 touchdowns, making him just one of seven NCAA quarterbacks to ever achieve the latter in a single season.
Additionally, he claimed school records in total offense in a season (4,900+ yards), total offensive yards in a game (477) and total passing yards in a game (470). In all 12 of his starts, he threw for more than 225 passing yards, including eight games of more than 300 yards, and four games of more than 400. He threw for 499 yards and five touchdowns in the 2018 Big Ten Football Championship Game, while throwing three touchdowns in the 2019 Rose Bowl, winning the MVP award in both games for his performance.
His performance also earned him first team All–Big Ten honors, as well as six Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week awards, the Graham–George Offensive Player of the Year, the Griese–Brees Quarterback of the Year, the Chicago Tribune Silver Football, and the Male Ohio State Athlete of the Year awards.[17][18][19] He was also named as a semifinalist for the Maxwell Award, and finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting.[20][21] In January 2019, Haskins announced that he would forgo his remaining two years of college football and enter the 2019 NFL Draft. As a student, he majored in journalism.
| Season | Games | Record | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Comp | Att | Pct | Yards | TD | Int | Rate | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| 2016 | 0 | 0 | — |  |
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| 2017 | 8 | 0 | 0–0 | 40 | 57 | 70.2 | 565 | 4 | 1 | 173.1 | 24 | 86 | 3.6 | 0 |
| 2018 | 14 | 14 | 13–1 | 373 | 533 | 70.0 | 4,831 | 50 | 8 | 174.1 | 85 | 108 | 1.3 | 4 |
| Career | 22 | 14 | 13–1 | 413 | 590 | 70.1 | 5,396 | 54 | 9 | 173.6 | 109 | 194 | 1.8 | 4 |
Professional career
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand size | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | Vertical jump | Wonderlic | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 3+3⁄8 in (1.91 m) |
231 lb (105 kg) |
33+1⁄2 in (0.85 m) |
9+5⁄8 in (0.24 m) |
5.04 s | 1.75 s | 2.90 s | 28+1⁄2 in (0.72 m) |
25 | ||||
| All values from NFL Combine | ||||||||||||
Washington Redskins / Football Team
2019 season
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Haskins was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft, 15th overall. Despite his high school and college jersey number of 7 being unofficially retired by the Redskins in honor of quarterback Joe Theismann, whose career ended with a leg injury in 1985, Haskins requested and was granted permission from him to wear it. Haskins signed his four-year rookie contract on May 9, 2019.
On January 21, 2021, Haskins signed a futures contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
NFL Career statistics
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | Sacks | Fumbles | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Comp | Att | Pct | Yards | Avg | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | Sck | SckY | Fum | Lost | ||
| 2019 | WAS | 9 | 7 | 119 | 203 | 58.6 | 1,365 | 6.7 | 7 | 7 | 76.1 | 20 | 101 | 5.1 | 0 | 29 | 204 | 6 | 2 |
| 2020 | WAS | 7 | 6 | 148 | 241 | 61.4 | 1,439 | 6.0 | 5 | 7 | 73.0 | 20 | 46 | 2.3 | 1 | 20 | 141 | 5 | 3 |
| Career | 16 | 13 | 267 | 444 | 60.1 | 2,804 | 6.3 | 12 | 14 | 74.4 | 40 | 147 | 3.7 | 1 | 49 | 345 | 11 | 5 | |
Personal life
Haskins goes by the nickname Simba, which was taken from the protagonist of the 1994 film The Lion King. He adopted it as a child due to him having an afro at the time that reminded his mother of a lion’s mane. He uses the nickname and the film’s coming-of-age story as motivation and incorporates it into his personal clothing brand, Kingdom of Pride. His mentor during high school and college was NFL wide receiver Mohamed Sanu, whom he met through Mohamed Jabbie, one of his best friends and Sanu’s nephew. A New Jersey native, Haskins grew up a New York Giants fan.
