In the aftermath of the 2019 NFL Draft, embattled New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman spent days explaining why he took quarterback Daniel Jones with the No. 6 overall pick. At one point in the circular defense, Gettleman explained the selection by stating that he was certain two teams would have snatched Jones before the QB fell to No. 17.
Since that quote surfaced, the Washington Redskins have been reported as one of those teams who would have taken Jones. Washington sat at pick No. 15.
Appearing on NFL Network's *Total Access* Tuesday night, Redskins team president Bruce Allen told host Lindsay Rhodes the notion was hogwash.
"We picked the player we wanted to pick," Allen said of Dwayne Haskins. "I'm almost positive Dave has no clue what our draft board would be. I don't know which draft boards he knows, but he doesn't know ours."
"Well there were still a lot of good football players and they started to go, bang, bang, bang," Allen said of watching Haskins fall after Big Blue's QB choice at No. 6. "And we felt comfortable that Dwayne was going to come to us, but when it happened, we were excited."
Haskins will compete for the Redskins starting quarterback job in a position room that is littered with veterans.
"It's a great situation for any quarterback we're going to bring in and Dwayne is excited about it," Allen said. "Our reigning NFL MVP, Patrick Mahomes, he learned at the hip of Alex Smith. And Alex is going to be part of our program -- we still don't know from the doctors if he's going to play, and what time in the season, but he's going to be a part of our program. And (Haskins) will be able to learn from Case Keenum, and Colt McCoy, and then our coaching staff is filled with former quarterbacks, and of course, we have the great Doug Williams in the building, so it's going to be a great learning experience for (Haskins) and we want to make sure he has a great career."
Unlike Mahomes, odds are Haskins doesn't sit a year. With Smith's career in jeopardy, he's likely to tutor Haskins more like a coach than a starter, as he did with Mahomes. McCoy is coming off another surgery. Keenum has beaten out younger quarterbacks before, but given Haskins' high standing within the Redskins organization, and the pressure to play first-round signal-callers, it would be stunning if Haskins didn't win the job early in the 2019 season.
