EXCLUSIVE: Sources Detail Facts Of Rivera & Doug Williams Involvement In WFT Release Of QB Haskins

The Dwayne Haskins keep-and-release drama with the Washington Football Team continues to get more interesting. Was coach Ron Rivera convinced to keep him? What was Doug Williams' involvement? Sports Illustrated, with sources and on-the-record information, sets the record straight

ASHBURN, Va. - Washington Football Team senior vice president of player development Doug Williams tells Washington Football on SI that the network-media assertion that he slowed the decision by a week to release QB Dwayne Haskins is "news to me."

Furthermore, the report that the decision was made or forced on coach Ron Rivera is also false, according to our sources, who made it clear to Washington Football on SI that Rivera alone made both the decision last week to give Haskins another chance, and then the decision to cut him on Monday. 

The team waived the second-year quarterback, its first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, after a brutal performance in Sunday loss to Carolina that followed a chaotic week keyed by Haskins' self-admitted "immature'' misbehavior. 

READ MORE: Plenty of Mistakes In the Haskins Debacle

But Williams tells us that he had no role in convincing Rivera of anything in regard to Haskins. And other sources confirm this to us - that Williams had nothing at all to do with convincing Rivera to spare Haskins' job for a week.

Peter Schrager, speaking on Colin Cowherd's show, is behind the initial report that suggests both Williams' influence and Rivera's delay.

Schrager reiterated to Cowherd his position that "Ron Rivera very nearly cut Dwayne Haskins last Monday. ... He was basically talked out of it by Doug Williams and a few other people in the organization,'' Schrager said.

Sources tell us that Williams was asked by Rivera to talk with Haskins a week ago after the decision was made to keep the quarterback, with the purpose being to make sure Haskins was in a good frame of mind. 

WATCH/READ: One-on-One with Doug Williams

Williams has counseled Haskins in different ways since he was drafted by owner Dan Snyder in April of 2019. But Williams has regularly said that Haskins had to do a lot of things to improve himself on-and-off the field. (See the above video.)

READ MORE: If Smith Can't Go, it's Heinicke for WFT in Must-Win

It's logical to think that Snyder, the power behind the original and ill-fated selection of Haskins, is the "other (person) in the organization'' who might've wished for Rivera to stick with the player. But ultimately, a network retraction may be due, because coach Ron Rivera used his authority to make the decision on his own timetable. And because executive Doug Williams, via his own words, was not involved in any attempt to stall the ultimate decision.