Steelers make it official, announce the signing of Dwayne Haskins and 3 others

After a visit with Steelers on Thursday, the Steelers have announced they have officially signed quarterback Dwayne Haskins to a Reserve/Future contract. The Steelers also signed defensive back Stephen Denmark, tight end Charles Jones, and tight end Dax Raymond.

The signing of Haskins gives the Steelers three quarterbacks currently under contract for the 2021 season. Having four players with the team in 2020, the Steelers did not sign practice squad quarterback Devlin Hodges to a futures contract. Additionally, third-string quarterback Josh Dobbs is set to become an unrestricted free agent in March.

Haskins is a name many Steelers fans have had on their radar since the relationship with the Washington Football Team, and mainly head coach Ron Rivera, soured in the final weeks of the 2020 regular season. Haskins was the 15th overall selection of the 2019 NFL draft and took over the starting role in Week 9 of 2019 until an ankle injury caused his early departure in Week 16. In his rookie year, Haskins was 2-5 as a starter completing only 58.6% of his passes for 7 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.

In his second season, Haskins started the first four games of the year before losing the starting job. After several injuries to various Washington quarterbacks, Haskins started in Weeks 15 and 16, both of which were Washington losses. With only 5 touchdowns and 7 interceptions in 2020, Haskins has a career record of 3-10. It was following the the Week 16 loss when the relationship deteriorated to a point where Washington released Haskins.

While some of Steelers’ Nation may think bringing in the former first-round draft pick puts the writing on the wall for either Ben Roethlisberger or Mason Rudolph, Haskins may be no more than the addition of a high pedigree cast-off for the Steelers to test the waters, much like Paxton Lynch. With Steelers current wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard coming from Washington in 2019, the Steelers may have had some inside information as to what was going on with Haskins and if it was worth taking the chance.

Charles Jones finished the 2020 season on the Steelers practice squad but was not in the first round of Reserve/Future contracts. Jones played four games with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2019 where he had one reception for 5 yards.

Tight end Dax Raymond may sound familiar to Steelers fans as he spent part of training camp with the Steelers in 2020. Coming from the Chicago Bears in 2019, Raymond spent part of 2020 on the Green Bay Packers practice squad.

Cornerback Stephen Denmark was a seventh-round draft pick of the Chicago Bears in 2019 and spent the year on the practice squad. Denmark was also with the Bears in 2020 and on their practice squad for part of the season. He also spent time on the Cleveland Browns practice squad in 2020 before being released in December.

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