QB Dwayne Haskins benched in Washington, is he worth a second chance at the game's most important position?

Per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, The Washington Football Team has benched second-year quarterback Dwayne Haskins, electing instead to let Kyle Allen steer the ship due to his “familiarity with the system.”

We’ll get to Haskins in a moment. First, let us consider the player Haskins has been benched in favor of. Last season, Jameis Winston led the league with 40 turnover-worthy plays in a high-volume passing attack; this was the number that effectively ended his tenure as a starter in Tampa Bay and reduced his value to a pittance so low that even the cap-squeezed New Orleans Saints could sign him to be their third quarterback. Kyle Allen was second with 34, despite attempting 150-plus fewer passes.

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Allen had the highest turnover-worthy play rate in the league by a distance (5.9%) last year, while Winston’s was the second-worst at 5.5%. For every 17 pass attempts Allen made last year, one of them was bad enough that it should have resulted in a turnover. That means in a standard NFL game in 2020, he’s good for multiple turnovers a game on average.

It’s certainly true that he has familiarity with the system, but he also has familiarity with throwing the ball to the opposition. Meanwhile, Haskins’ career turnover worthy play rate is just 2.6%.