3 reasons Steelers should not have signed QB Dwayne Haskins

The Steelers recently inked a deal with Dwayne Haskins, but here’s why he doesn’t have the traits to be Pittsburgh’s quarterback of the future. 

After a very shaky end to his 2020 campaign, Ben Roethlisberger enters an offseason with an important decision to make: Does he elect to return for the final year of his contract or hang up his hat. Though it’s widely expected that Roethlisberger will play one final season in Pittsburgh, the Steelers need to start preparing for life after Ben.

It appears as though they are looking into making some of these preparations right away. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that Washington quarterback, Dwayne Haskins,  officially signed with the Pittsburgh  Steelers on Thursday. Haskins was the former 15th overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft and he offers some depth at the position.

Though competition at quarterback is never a bad thing, I firmly believe that Haskins is not the answer to their problems at the position. Here are three reasons why Pittsburgh should have avoided signing him this offseason:

Questionable maturity and leadership

Anytime a former first-round quarterback is cut after just two seasons in the league, it makes you question what went wrong. There have been reports in the past that Haskins has a bit of a disingenuous personality and that it has caused some issues in the locker room. He also had an incident where he was without a mask at a strip club this past December, according to the New York Post.

While his play clearly needs to step up if he wants to try to live up to his reputation as a former first-round draft choice, I find it very hard to believe that an organization would give up on their 23-year-old quarterback they took very high in the draft just two years ago without just cause. I think his maturity issues and questionable leadership qualities should have been enough for the Steelers to pass on signing him this offseason. It wasn’t.