Bill Polian considers Dwayne Haskins ‘outstanding prospect’ for Redskins

NASHVILLE — Bill Polian thinks the Washington Redskins made a wise move by selecting former Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins with the 15th overall pick of the NFL Draft Thursday night.

The Hall of Fame general manager has studied plenty of tape on Haskins, and comes away believing he has what it takes to succeed at the next level.

‘You’ve got a guy who shows a lot of poise for a young man that’s only played one year of college football’

“When you look at this young man, you’ve got a guy with a strong arm, you’ve got a guy with a lot of field awareness,” Polian said while co-hosting with Bruce Murray on the SiriusXM Blitz from the draft. “You’ve got a guy who shows a lot of poise for a young man that’s only played one year of college football. You’ve got a guy who has phenomenal numbers in a very, very good conference, probably the second-best conference in college football.

“What is he going to become? We’ll find out. But he’s not the finished product by any means at this point in time.”

“The bottom line here is that this kid is an outstanding prospect. But that’s all he is at this point. He’s just a prospect because he’s only played one year of college football. What is he going to become? We’ll find out. But he’s not the finished product by any means at this point in time.”

‘When I look at the tape, I see a guy who can process’

Still, Polian made a point of saying that Haskins’ one year of college experience shouldn’t be held against him.

“By all accounts — again, I didn’t read every report and I didn’t get the psychological report and all that kind of stuff, which is really, really important — but from everyone I talked to, he gets high grades in terms of being a guy who’s very professional, very dedicated to what he does, a good leader, prepares well, all of those kinds of things,” Polian said. “So all of that bodes well. And when I look at the tape, I see a guy who can process.

‘He moves around in the pocket quite well’

“What’s the negative? People say, ‘Well, he isn’t athletic enough.’ Well, who cares? Was Peyton (Manning) athletic? Is Tom Brady athletic? Come on. … We’re talking about the two greatest quarterbacks of all time. That’s not something that worries me. He moves around in the pocket quite well and with rare exceptions, he makes throws from uneven platforms and under duress and outside the pocket quite well, and sees the field quite well.”