Rookie first-round QBs Dwayne Haskins, Daniel Jones play well to finish preseason
We’ll see Dwayne Haskins and Daniel Jones again this year.
What the rookie quarterbacks did on Thursday night might mean we see them sooner rather than later.
Both rookie first-round picks finished the preseason strong. Jones, the sixth pick to the New York Giants, was perhaps the biggest revelation of the entire NFL preseason. He continued to impress against the New England Patriots on Thursday night. He finished the preseason with just five incompletions on 34 attempts.
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Haskins, who was selected 15th by the Washington Redskins, had a bumpy first preseason game but looked better in subsequent games and looked sharp against the Baltimore Ravens in the finale.
The rookie first-round quarterbacks will head to the bench for the regular season, but there should be some excitement about them getting on the field soon.
Daniel Jones was a star of the preseason
If Jones can carry over what he did this preseason to the rest of his career, Giants fans will regret freaking out about general manager Dave Gettleman picking him.
Jones looked good every time he played. On Thursday he completed all four passes he attempted for 47 yards. He had a 23-yard pass to Golden Tate, who is suspended four games to start the season. It’s possible Jones makes it into the starting lineup before Tate. Jones has shown exceptional ability, especially on deep throws. We’ll see if that is still the case when he’s facing mostly starting defensive players and a full defensive gameplan.
Jones is behind Eli Manning, and that will continue to be an awkward situation. Manning has meant a lot to the Giants franchise. And had Jones struggled in the preseason, it would have been easier for the Giants to hold off on making a switch. After Jones was so good in the preseason — 29-of-34 passing for 416 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and a rating of at least 115 in all four games — it’ll be hard to hold off if Manning struggles at all.
Dwayne Haskins finishes well
Haskins hasn’t had the same attention as Jones this month, but the progress he made was positive. In his first game he threw a pick-six and looked like a rookie. The arrow has pointed up since then.
Haskins had some nice throws on Thursday night. He hit Robert Davis over the middle for 14 yards on a nice read. Haskins threw a dart over the middle to tight end J.P. Holtz for 24 yards on second-and-11 for what might have been his best throw of the night. Haskins finished that drive with a nice seven-yard touchdown pass to Steven Sims on a rollout to his right, which was a great catch by Sims in the end zone. Haskins had a fantastic throw late in the first half, moving to his left after he had to escape the pocket, which was taken off the board due to an offensive holding penalty. It didn’t count but it showed off his skill set.
Haskins was 10-of-17 for 104 yards and a touchdown in the preseason finale. He didn’t throw an interception in his final three preseason games.
Case Keenum is slated to start Week 1 for Washington, but unlike Manning in New York, the team has no real reason for the Redskins to stick with him. Getting Haskins on the field should be a priority, especially if Washington’s offense doesn’t do much early this season with Keenum.
The other first-round rookie quarterback this year, top pick Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals, didn’t play on Thursday. His starting spot is secure. Jones and Haskins will have to wait, but perhaps the wait won’t be that long.
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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
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