I am not usually a huge fan of saying “The Steelers should go out and get X player.” just because I know that’s not usually how they operate. In the past 20 years, Pittsburgh has traded away a first round pick three times: to move up to select Troy Polamalu, to move up to select Devin Bush, and to acquire Minkah Fitzpatrick. The Steelers traditionally build through the draft so they do not usually trade picks for players. They should at least consider trading a mid-round pick for Dwayne Haskins of the Washington Football Team
Why the Steelers Should Consider Trading for Dwayne Haskins
Let’s start with the obvious. Ben Roethlisberger is 38 years old, not exactly in the prime of his career. Who knows when he’s going to hang it up? It could be at the end of this year, next year, or he could end up signing another extension. The fact of the matter is, the only person that knows what Ben’s plans are is Ben. We’ve seen what the other quarterbacks on the roster can do, and it isn’t pretty.
Trading a mid-round pick or two for Haskins would be a low-risk/high-reward situation. Dwayne Haskins was a first round pick for a reason, he has the talent to be a quality starter in the league. Something that Haskins hasn’t had to this point in his career is stability. Stability and consistency are two important things for young players coming into the league, especially young quarterbacks. Washington hasn’t provided either of those. Haskins is now on his third coach who just relegated him to third string, so it seems like the organization has given up on him after 13 career starts.
Staff Stability
The Steelers would provide Haskins the stability to thrive, and they would also be able to give him time to learn the offense and not rush him into a starting role. Pittsburgh has not fired a head coach since 1968, and barring unforeseen circumstances that streak looks to continue. Also, they seem to like to hire their position coaches with the intention of rising them through the ranks.
For example, defensive coordinator Keith Butler has been with the organization since 2003 starting as a linebackers coach and offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner joined the organization in 2007 as their wide receivers coach. Not to mention, the current quarterbacks coach Matt Canada was the offensive coordinator at Pitt and got just enough out of Nathan Peterman (yes, that Nathan Peterman) to convince NFL scouts that he was draftable. If Canada can get that man drafted with Pitt’s offense, imagine what he could do with Haskins with the offense that the Steelers have.
We Need Backup
The Steelers have seen what they can get out of Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges, and Josh Dobbs couldn’t beat out a 6th round rookie in Jacksonville. Pittsburgh has the stability to bring Haskins along slowly with the hopes of getting solid production out of him. The Steelers’ offense around its quarterback is also just better. Better offensive line, better stable of running backs, and better receiving corps as a whole (although I am a very big fan of Terry McLaurin).
So long as the asking price for Haskins is low, the Steelers should take a flyer. If it works out, great. You got your quarterback of the future for cheap. If it doesn’t work out though, you didn’t give up that much for him. Dwayne Haskins is a former first round pick that has fallen out of
favor in only his second year in the league with his third coach. With the stability the Steelers have as an organization and the uncertainty of the future of the quarterback position, Haskins would be a good project for the Steelers to have.
Narcissistic Penguin 
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