Rivera insists he believes in Haskins despite demotion

Washington Football Team head coach Ron Rivera maintained Friday he still believes in Dwayne Haskins despite demoting him to third-string quarterback.

"By no means have I given up on him," Rivera told reporters, according to ESPN's John Keim.

Haskins struggled over his first four starts of the season, leading Rivera to bench the 15th overall pick from 2019. Kyle Allen, a former undrafted free agent who played for Rivera with the Carolina Panthers, will take over in the huddle, while Alex Smith will serve as the No. 2 quarterback.

Rivera announced the change at the beginning of Week 5, attributing the switch to an opportunity to contend in the weak NFC East. Despite its 1-3 record, Washington sits second in the standings behind the 1-2-1 Philadelphia Eagles.

"A big part of it is watching and studying," Rivera said of Haskins. "Like today, he was back there behind the quarterback watching the reps, looking downfield. Just being involved, staying connected, which is important … I've told you guys the only reason I'm doing what I'm doing is because of the circumstances and the situation we're in right now."

Rivera added he favored Allen's familiarity with offensive coordinator Scott Turner since Haskins didn't have a traditional offseason to absorb the new system.

"There are things Dwayne was still learning to do that Kyle knows in terms of communicating with the offensive line," he said. "It's something as we go through this and progress, Dwayne will learn and see how these things are done."

Haskins completed 61% of his passes for 939 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions over the first quarter of the schedule. His passer rating of 80.3 was only better than Jeff Driskel, Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones, and Carson Wentz.

As a rookie, Haskins completed 58.6% of his throws for 1,365 yards with seven touchdowns and seven interceptions over parts of nine games. He registered a passer rating of 76.1.