To QB or not to QB … Interesting week in the NFL when both Cincinnati and Washington, which currently hold the first and second picks overall in the weekly 2020 draft selection order respectively, started rookie QBs. In Cincinnati, for example, there have been rumblings that the Bengals have been impressed enough with Ryan Finley, their 4th round pick at last April’s draft, that there was a growing hope in the organization that he could in fact fill the bill of their QB of the future, in the process freeing up the team to use the #1 pick overall, on star Ohio State DE Chase Young, the top rated player in this year’s draft. And Finley has started the past couple of weeks in place of veteran Andy Dalton, but the results have been far from overwhelming. In the two starts, Finley has completed less that half his pass attempts (47.5%) including just one TD pass against 2 picks, while posting a QB rating just over 50. In the two games with Finley at the helm, the Bengals scored just 23 points. Needless to say the numbers don’t exactly scream ‘QB of the future!’ Of course, the Bengals could still opt to take Young as the BPA if he was in fact available to them when they get on the clock, but it just seems hard to see them passing on a top-rated QB if one were available to them.
Washington may have a tougher decision after selected former Ohio State star Dwayne Haskins with the 15th pick overall this past spring. It took awhile for Haskins to get any legit playing time, and once he did, like Finley, the results have been mixed at best. Through four games, including a couple of starts, Haskins has a 58% completion mark with just a couple of TD passes against 5 picks. Is that enough to give the Redskins some confidence/hope that Haskins is the long-term answer at the position. Probably, but only time will tell, particularly in an organization where ownership sometimes butts up against the football staff. Stay tuned!
