Bruce Arians throws shade at Dwayne Haskins ahead of playoff matchup against WFT

Dwayne Haskins won't be on the field when the Washington Football Team hosts the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this weekend in the NFC wild-card round. That didn't stop Bucs head coach Bruce Arians from throwing shade at the former WFT quarterback. 

"We're not playing a 7-9 team. We're playing a 4-1 team. When Alex Smith plays they're a 4-1 team," Arians reportedly said this week on ESPN. "We're not playing Dwayne Haskins. We're playing Alex Smith."

The shade thrown toward Haskins by Arians was rather unexpected. Washington decided to part ways with the former first-round pick after a tumultuous week that saw him stripped of his captaincy, fined for violating COVID-19 protocols and was capped off by a 20-13 loss to the Carolina Panthers. 

Arians does have a point, though. Washington is 5-1 this season in games started by Smith, who made a miraculous return from a life-threatening leg injury, and won just one contest with Haskins as QB1. 

Haskins, a product of Ohio State, has since signed with a new agent in an effort to rehab his image and find another job in the NFL. It's unclear where he may end up, though the Panthers are reportedly among teams interested in the young QB.