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However you dress it up, the Washington offense was bad in 2018. Losing their starting quarterback, Alex Smith, obviously hurt, as did seeing rookie running Derrius Guice go down in his first preseason game.
But the fact remains that, by numberFire metrics, only four teams were worse on a per-play basis than Washington last season, as they averaged -0.02 Adjusted NEP per play. Change was needed, and the team made a huge one when they drafted former Ohio State Buckeye quarterback Dwayne Haskins with the 15th overall selection.
Like Murray, the bar for success would seem to be set quite low for it to be considered a successful first season in the league for Haskins. But Washington has produced a winner of this award in recent times, after Robert Griffin III took it home after his breathtaking 2012 season. Sadly, he was never the same player again. But you could argue that was the last time Washington had an offense worth watching.
It should be stressed that Haskins is not Griffin. He is a completely different type of player, one who threw 50 touchdown passes against just 8 interceptions last season. He has very little by means of genuine game-changing talent among his pass-catchers.
In the backfield, the team boasts Guice and the aging Adrian Peterson as primary rushers as well as receiving threat Chris Thompson, suggesting that draft pick Bryce Love, who is working his way back from an ACL tear, won't be an immediate factor in 2019.
If Haskins can win the starting job, which is by no means a guarantee after the team traded for Case Keenum earlier in the offseason, and if he can help Washington compete in a division containing two playoff teams from a year ago (the Dallas Cowboys won the NFC East while the Philadelphia Eagles secured a wild card berth), then he isn't a terrible shout to claim the Offensive Rookie of the Year crown.