@Spurt
Most teams have player councils these days where some veteran players meet with the coaches/front office on a regular basis to discuss issues. If there's an issue the coaches can explain it to those players who then can relay things to the rest of the team. It's pretty easy to explain to the veteran players why you're starting Dwayne Haskins. The kid has by far the highest ceiling of anyone they have on the roster. They saw him play towards the end of last season to know what he's capable of.
Have the coaches fall on the sword and take the blame for his level of play if there's fear of division. Doug Pederson accepts blame for every loss. "I should have done better. We'll learn from this and move forward." Wentz can throw three interceptions and fumble the ball twice and Pederson takes the blame. "I should have put him in a better position." Try to find a time when Doug Pederson or one of his coaches blamed a player for a loss. It doesn't happen. Everything is the fault of the coaches. He learned that from Andy Reid and it works. Linebacker Nate Gerry is off to a horrible start this year, often lost in space, but not once has a coach said anything publicly about his play other than praise it. Jim Schwartz was just asked about it this week and praised Gerry to death. (Gerry may get benched this week but Schwartz praised him anyway.)
With Haskins, have the OC and head coach take the blame for his mistakes. That's why they get paid the big bucks. "We asked too much of him on that play. We didn't have him as prepared as we should have. We need to focus the offense more on his strengths. They showed us a look we hadn't prepared him to face. Etc." It doesn't matter if he throws four passes in a row right into the middle linebacker who's standing ten feet in front of him, you don't blame the kid. "It's our fault and we'll fix it going forward."
If you polled the WFT players probably ninety percent or more would say start Alex Smith. They know he's their best QB. If you're going to defy their wishes and start a guy it might as well be Haskins who has the most upside. The risk of injury to Alex Smith is terrifying to the coaching staff. They never want a guy crippled. That's why Chip Kelly benched Kaepernick when he became a vegan and melted away to a skeleton. He wouldn't play him because he was afraid he'd get killed.
When you give up on a Haskins this early, it sends a message to the team that's not necessarily the message you want to send to the team. Players want to know the coaches have their backs. They'll lay it all on the line for a coach who does. Haskins won't get better on the bench as the third string QB. He'll be just watching everything in that role as the starter gets the reps in practice and the backup runs the scout team preparing the defense for the opponent. The third string QB stands around and tries to look busy.
If Haskins is having problems with the offense, simplify it to the point where he doesn't. I don't care if you only run three plays if that's all he can handle, run those three plays and build from there. The offense may not look how the OC wants it to look, but if it works, it works.
The Giants and WFT largely wasted a first-round pick last year in the draft by drafting young QB's then ripping away their coaching staffs and changing their systems. Kid QBs just don't do well in those circumstances. Either live with a bad head coach until the kid's had a chance to grow into the system or flush the head coach first, then draft a kid. If you're going to flush the coach at least replace him with someone running the same system. Both teams killed their kid QBs and have no one to blame but themselves.
Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
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