The most accomplished Black quarterback in the history of the Washington Football Team believes Dwayne Haskins can overcome this.

“I think he’s able to do it,” Doug Williams said in a phone interview. “But he’s got to face it head-on. He can’t run from it.”

Williams works for the team he guided to victory in Super Bowl XXII, becoming the first Black starter to lead his team to a championship. He’s Washington’s senior vice president of player development, so Haskins won’t have to go far to get the kind of straight talk that can help him get through his demotion from starter to third stringer.

He’s got some prominent supporters pulling for him in the senior members of the NFL’s Black quarterbacks club.

‘How to handle tough situations’

“I do,” Williams said. “Shack (Harris) does. Marlin (Briscoe) does. We all do.”

Harris became the most prominent Black quarterback of his era when he led the Buffalo Bills and later the Los Angeles Rams in the 1970s. Briscoe was the first Black starter of the modern era when he guided the Denver Broncos in 1968.

They all spoke to Haskins this year at an event organized by Arizona State University’s Global Sport Institute in downtown Phoenix.  

They knew how to handle adversity because they didn’t have a choice. The knew they would face racism from fans and that coaches would be quick to pull them from the lineup or make them switch positions — a common fate for Black signal callers of previous eras.

“We came up in a different time,” Williams said. “And a lot of the younger guys don’t look at it the way we do, because the times were so much different. We didn’t have a lot of choices. So we had to learn how to handle tough situations.

“We didn’t have nobody telling us ‘it’s gonna be all right tomorrow,’ because we didn’t know that.”

Harris started as a rookie in Buffalo, then was benched and later released. He dealt with that adversity by signing with the Rams and leading them to the NFC championship game.

Briscoe set a Broncos rookie record with 14 touchdown passes, but never got another opportunity to play under center. He dealt with that adversity by becoming one of the NFL’s top receivers and winning a Super Bowl with the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins. 

‘It’s his choice … face it head-on’

Haskins was clearly treated unfairly. He completed 70 percent of his passes and threw for more than 300 yards in a loss to Baltimore last week. And his season statistics compare favorably to Daniel Jones, who also was drafted in the first round last season and remains the Giants starter.

Neither that, nor the recognition of a history of racist treatment against Black quarterbacks, will put Haskins back in the lineup.

“I do think the decision has been made,” Williams said. “It’s his choice right now to face it head-on. To me, that’s the most important thing for him.”

That’s how Williams handled it when he joined Washington as a backup. He bided his time and took the franchise to a Super Bowl when he stepped in for an injured Jay Schroeder.  Williams threw for 340 yards, a record at the time. And his four touchdowns in the second quarter set a Super Bowl record that still stands.

There’s reason to believe Haskins will overcome his adversity, too.

He seemed to understand what he was facing when he spoke at the Journey of the Black Quarterback forum in February. He knew that Mitch Trubisky was drafted ahead of Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson. He knew that observers questioned Lamar Jackson and suggested he might be better suited to play wide receiver. But most importantly, Haskins knew that for Blacks in America, life can be simply unfair.  

“I think it goes without being said,” Haskins said in February. “Just the mentality of being a Black quarterback, that edge, being able to overcome adversity … just being a Black man in America period is being able to overcome the setbacks that you have because of the color of your skin.”

If Haskins dedicates himself, he can get through this.

Williams believes in him.  

“I promise you,” Williams said, “if he faces it like I would hope he would, then in five, six, seven years from now, he’ll forget about this.”

Maybe. Maybe not. But Haskins can certainly make sure everyone involved in the decision to bench him comes to regret it.

Reach Moore at[email protected]or 602-444-2236. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @WritingMoore.

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