Tank for Tua? Redskins need to keep all options on table

Even with Haskins in tow, the organization needs to give their next coach all available options.

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

The Washington Redskins once again find themselves with a cloudy forecast for the organization's direction. All along, the silver lining surrounding their miserable start to the current season was it will eventually end with one of the best picks in the 2020 amateur draft. Thanks to selecting their franchise quarterback in the 2019 draft in Ohio State's Dwayne Haskins, the assumption has been Washington would be able to either select a potential Hall of Fame player at another position, or better yet trade their high pick to a team in desperate need of their own savior signal caller.

But what if that doesn't have to be the plan? What if the team handed over complete control of the organization's direction to a new head coach, and they wanted to wipe the slate completely clean? That process could include waving goodbye to Haskins before he ever really got a chance to dig in, in Washington.

Unconventional? Definitely. Unprecedented? Not at all.

The NFL world just witnessed such a scenario play out in the desert, figuratively and literally. The moribund Arizona Cardinals franchise fired their head coach just one year after seemingly turning the franchise over to 2018 first-round pick Josh Rosen. When they hired Kliff Kinsgbury, he decided the only way he could function was with a quarterback who would excel in his system, and with the No. 1 pick in hand selected Oklahoma's Kyler Murray.

The Washington franchise is even thirstier than the Cardinals.  They've got to give their fan base some hope. If they are somehow able to convince a top-flight coach to come to D.C. and work for Dan Snyder and possibly still "damn good" president of operations Bruce Allen, it would make sense to give the new guy similar latitude to what Kingsbury enjoys.

That could include moving on from Haskins.

The 15th-pick in the 2019 draft, there have been rumors some in the organization feel the former one-year Buckeyes star is far away from being ready to sit under center. While many feel the best way for a young QB to learn is through game experience and getting the majority of practice reps, former head coach Jay Gruden did not subscribe to this theory. He, being on a hot seat which melted with his firing on Monday, was on borrowed time, so giving him a project - inexperienced even by rookie standards - was not a good mix.

Haskins could still be a star in the league, but that doesn't mean that he will be a fit for whomever the club hires to be the next coach.

Haskins is a pocket thrower with enough athleticism to move around, but he certainly is more of a traditional passer than the new wave of uber-athletes who threaten defenses with their mobility. If the next Redskins coach covets that for his system, then Washington should consider following the Cardinals' lead.

And if that's the consideration, then Washington should probably follow the lead of the Miami Dolphins, coincidentally the team who traded for Josh Rosen, and tank for Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert or whatever quarterback sits atop the draft pundits rankings come April.

To do so, they'll have to out-tank the sea mammals starting this week, when the two teams square off for Week 6.