Dwayne Haskins was in Florida attending a practice organized by former Buffalo Bills quarterback Mitch Trubisky before his tragic death in the morning hours on Saturday.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Haskins’ death on Saturday, passing on word from his agent that the 24-year-old quarterback had been hit by a car.
“Dwayne Haskins, a standout at Ohio State before struggling to catch on with Washington and Pittsburgh in the NFL, died this morning when he got hit by a car in South Florida, per his agent Cedric Saunders,” Schefter tweeted. “Haskins would have turned 25 years old on May 3.”
Haskins, a 2019 first-round pick by the Washington Commanders, was released after a turbulent tenure with the team and was signed by the Steelers last year. After Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement this offseason, Haskins was looking to compete for a job and the chance to turn around his career.
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Haskins Joined Trubisky in Florida
After spending one season with the Bills, Trubisky signed with the Steelers and quickly got to work with his teammates, inviting a group to his home in Florida to practice and train together. Trubisky was seizing the chance to move out of Josh Allen’s shadow and take on a leadership role, and NFL Network’s Aditi Kinkhabwala reported that he brought along a number of Steelers players with him.
“Remember Mitch Trubisky talking about coming into Pittsburgh and leading right away? He’s having the #Steelers pass-catchers and the other QBs (Mason Rudolph and Dwayne Haskins) down to his FL home this weekend to throw and hang out,” Kinkhabwala tweeted. “I’m told RB Najee Harris is going too.”
Steelers Nation reported that a dozen players had been seen working out with Trubisky in Boca Raton.
There were no immediate details of the circumstances surrounding Haskins’ death.
Haskins Made Impression on Steelers
After being taken with the No. 15 overall pick in 2019, Haskins had a rocky tenure with the Commanders that led to his release in December 2020 after he had been benched in a loss to the Carolina Panthers. At the time, Haskins was photographed attending events that went against the league’s COVID-19 protocol. The former Ohio State quarterback took responsibility and vowed to improve.
“I take full responsibility for not meeting the standards of a NFL QB & will become a better man & player because of this experience,” he tweeted, via ESPN.
Haskins appeared to be sticking to that vow, earning some praise from Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin for his work ethic.
“He’s grown by leaps and bounds,” Tomlin said during training camp in August, via The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly. “He does a good job of communicating with coaches, with players, gaining an understanding of what we’re trying to do schematically and his role in it, gaining a rapport with the receivers specifically, trying to do the things that we want him to do in the drill work that we do. We’ve made an emphasis that drill work is football-like, but not necessarily football, and so we have certain things that we emphasize under those circumstances. I think he’s done a nice job of that. I think a lot of guys have.”
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