Dwayne Haskins was tragically killed Saturday morning after being hit by a car in South Florida, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). Haskins was set to turn 25 on May 3.
The Steelers quarterback was struck by a dump truck while walking westbound on Highway I-595 and was killed while trying to cross lanes, according to the Florida Highway Patrol (via Fox Sports 640’s Andy Slater, on Twitter). Haskins was pronounced dead at the scene.
Haskins had a standout sophomore season at Ohio State, setting a number of school records after completing 70 percent of his passes for 4,831 yards and a whopping 50 touchdowns. That performance earned him a number of accolades, including first team All-Big Ten honors, the Graham-George Offensive Player of the Year award, and the Griese-Brees Quarterback of the Year award. Haskins was also named the 2018 Big Ten Football Championship Game MVP and the 2019 Rose Bowl MVP.
The quarterback naturally rocketed up draft lists, and he was ultimately selected by Washington with the 15th-overall pick in the 2019 draft. Expectations were high for Haskins; he was even granted permission to wear the (unofficially) retired jersey number of legend Joe Theismann. Despite the fanfare, head coach Jay Gruden decided to roll with Case Keenum as his starting quarterback heading into the 2019 campaign. Haskins eventually found his way into the lineup, starting seven of his nine appearances. Washington went 2-5 in his seven starts, with the QB completing 58.6 percent of his passes for seven touchdowns vs. seven interceptions.
Haskins entered the 2020 season as the starter and a team captain, but he was benched prior to Week 5 for poor play. He found himself back in the lineup late in the season, but that wasn’t enough to save his career in Washington. Haskins was cut by the team before the end of the regular season.
Haskins caught on with the Steelers in 2021, and he didn’t get into a game while serving as the third QB. Pittsburgh placed an original-round restricted free agent tender on Haskins this offseason, and the expectation was that he’d get an extended look alongside Mitchell Trubisky and Mason Rudolph in the post-Ben Roethlisberger era.
“I am devastated and at a loss for words with the unfortunate passing of Dwayne Haskins,” Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said in a statement. “He quickly became part of our Steelers family upon his arrival in Pittsburgh and was one of our hardest workers, both on the field and in our community. Dwayne was a great teammate, but even more so a tremendous friend to so many. I am truly heartbroken.”
Haskins was in South Florida working out with Steelers quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers, per Schefter (on Twitter). That group included Trubisky and running back Najee Harris, according to Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com (on Twitter).
We at PFR offer our thoughts and condolences to Haskins’ family and friends.
Damn, way too young. RIP
Praying to the lord.
Terrible News! RIP Dwayne
What a shame. RIP Dwayne
That is terrible. Sorry for his family and friends.
This is absolutely tragic. Thoughts and prayers for Dwayne and his family. I’m sorry for his family’s loss. Thanks for the memories at Ohio State, Dwayne. RIP
RIP brother
RIP
Incredibly sad. I really wanted to see him challenge the other quarterbacks in training camp and was pulling for him to succeed. Rest In Peace.
Wow, very sad. Praying for his soul and his family and friends.
Praying for his family and friends. Terrible.
RIP Dwayne……. He is way to young to die….. Prayers for his family
Poor dude got so many horrible things said about him as a player and now this happens. what a darn shame. RIP Dwayne.
What terrible things were said? That he wasn’t a good NFL QB?
Really?? That’s your response in a time like this? He was called many things, few of them positive. Look it up…this isn’t the place. The guy was on his way turning things around.
yeah, cant dignify that comment with a response. not hard to know what I was saying and not attack me for defending a dead man.
Your perception is off. I didn’t “attack” you at all. I am questioning your comment. You said “terrible things” were said about him. I don’t know of any. I asked you to clarify your comment. So instead of responding to it, you get all defensive with what you think I mean by it. If you didn’t want to bring the subject up, why mention it?
fair enough, i just read that the wrong way. my bad there.
You have the integrity to admit when you’re wrong, and actually listen to the other people who post. I sincerely respect that about you Darkside.
Yes, really. That is my response at a time like this. What was he called? I don’t need to look it up. The other poster and now you are bringing it up without providing one piece of evidence. If this “isn’t the place” then stop bringing it up.
He was on his way to turning things around? Based on what? Again, you brought it up.
The only negatives I heard about him is that he is struggling, doesn’t really seem interested in listening to his coaches, and has a poor work ethic. Do you have proof to the contrary?
Again, YOU brought this up, not me. Get mad at yourself or go eat a Snickers bar. You cranky.
alright Ed “The Mythical One”, let me ask you something. If you were tragically killed at a very young age, would you rather someone be defending you and offering condolences, or making a big scene and arguing? you should be INCREDIBLY ashamed of yourself. examine what you’ve just said the last few comments. is that really appropriate at all?? not necessarily asking what bad things were said, but making a big scene and calling names, that’s entirely inappropriate at a time like this. the man is dead. he’s gone, and you have the audacity to call someone names when they’re simply offering condolences? you should be ashamed, embarrassed, and disgusted with yourself for the way you’ve acted. DarkSide830 and alwaysgo4two, as well as Lyman Bostock, thank you for what you’ve said. Ed “The Mythical One”, we’re all disappointed
If I was dead, I wouldn’t care or be able to hear or see what anyone was writing or saying about me. I’d be dead.
Now take a few minutes and stew over how stupid of a question you just asked me.
I called somebody names? Absolutely not. I told somebody their perception of my words were off…because they were. I told another person they were being cranky….because they were.
Awwww…a bunch of random posters on a message board are “disappointed” with me. I give two flying rats’ behinds. Really.
Wow- really puts things in perspective. Live every day to the fullest. RIP.
Absolutely tragic. May his memory be eternal.
steelers nation will enshrine his legacy
Very difficult to hear this. A young man’s life ending so soon. Keep his family and friends in your prayers.
This is so heartbreaking smh way to young
And just like that who my teams drafts, trades for or starts doesn’t seem so important anymore.
This, I think, is the best way to put it for this site. Most of what can be said has been said by others, thanks for pointing out what hasn’t as well.
So sad.
probably killed by a drunk driver,or someone texting.Rip dwayne
reports say he was struck by a dump truck
He ran out of gas on the interstate, got out of his car, and was hit by a dump truck. It was dark so the driver probably never saw him.
That would have been horrific. I feel for all involved.
Here’s the link to the story
link to local10.com
If the link is blocked in comments go to Local10 and look for the article “Dump truck hits and kills pedestrian, leaving westbound lanes of I-595 closed for investigation”
RIP and prayers to the family, friends and team mates!!!
RIP, Dwayne. What a tragic end for a young, talented man.
Rest In Power, young man.
Oh my God… RIP
Horrible news, condolences to his family and friends.
The heartfelt comments expressed here prove that despite our differences we have a excellent forum community at PFR. I feel privileged to be a part of it and am saddened by this tragedy as well.
I feel the same. I’ve been here under a few different names (locked myself out of one screen name, had a security issue with another) but there is a nice core group of commenters who are not just knowledgeable but thankfully are human beings first.
I live close to penn state so we get lots of Ohio state game what a player didn’t really do that great in nfl but I thought he would grow into a great player some day . So sad do young . Dang you just never know when .
I’m truly in shock today. RIP young man.
Careful, you told the truth about his career. That’s not putting respect on the man’s name according to some.
A young man is dead and this is what you come with?
Think this is referring to the Schefter tweet. he had to change it because of his woring.
*wording rather
Certainly is. I am sorry, but being dead doesn’t change the facts or the truth.
Yes. Because it is the truth. Somebody is being threatened to lose their job for stating the truth.
It’s not about whether or not Schefter’s words were true. I think most of us recognize that Haskins wasn’t a very good pro.
It’s more about the poor phrasing of the message. When you’re announcing something as shocking and tragic as someone dying from an accident, you don’t mix it with words about the man’s career, regardless of how it may have turned out. It’s not like he was recapping Haskins’ entire life
It would have made more sense to just say, “Former Ohio State starter and NFL quarterback Dwayne Haskins tragically passed away after getting struck by a vehicle in South Florida.”
Also, Schefter’s job wasn’t actually on the line
So, you don’t want anyone to say anything about his career, unless it is pointing out his great college career, then that’s okay.
He was an NFL player and they reported on his NFL career. It isn’t Scheffter’s fault he wasn’t good. Have you seen death announcements of former players? They often recap the person’s NFL career or sports career. It isn’t Scheffter’s fault Haskins didn’t have much of one to recap.
Oh, you think his job isn’t on the line now? Just wait.
“So, you don’t want anyone to say anything about his career, unless it is pointing out his great college career, then that’s okay.”
Nice strawman; I did not say that. Schefter was reporting Haskins’ death via tweet moments after news broke that the quarterback died. I don’t really think that necessitated a career recap.
I also don’t think it needs to be said that pointing out someone’s weaknesses immediately after said individual passes away is in particularly good taste. Why focus on the negatives? If you really needed to look up Haskins’ career bio, you can read Wikipedia.
“Oh, you think his job isn’t on the line now? Just wait.”
Is this not proof that his job wasn’t actually on the line and you’re just speculating? If you can point to any tangible evidence of this, I will eat my words, but that’s because I know it doesn’t exist
y’all, don’t bother even talking to Ed “The Mythical One”, he’s too lost
Nah, just too based for you. You can’t handle the truth. It hurts your poor little feelings. Grow up.
I am not straw manning at all. You want to call Adam out for “focusing on the negatives.” But, he also lauded the man’s great college career, or did you forget that. So to be okay with the latter while being upset with the former with your current argument is hypocritical.
As for his job, have you not heard of this little thing going on right now? I am sure you haven’t because it like, almost totally isn’t a thing. It is called cancel culture. I can understand if you don’t know what that is, cuz like, it hardly ever comes up at all or anything.
Dude is a sports reporter reporting on sports news about a sports player. Get over it.
shut up my guy, be respectful
You think I care if YOU think I am respectful? I think you show respect by telling the truth. You don’t like the truth, sorry, that’s your problem, not mine.
Ed, I appreciate your honesty and integrity even though being honest and keeping it real causes so much backlash. People in society have this weird obsession with acting like they’re so attached to celebrities and public figures when they die.
Meanwhile, how can you really care about a stranger that much? To me, when a public figure dies it’s no more or less sad than when anyone dies. Including animals. I really hope that everyone who posts prayers and mentions the lord and acts so defensive over Haskins when someone mentions how awful his nfl career was so far … has the same passion toward helping and defending lives still with us who need our love and support. I hope all you people donate to charity and adopt animals in kill shelters and take the time to visit hospices with lonely dying elderly and also stop for animals you hit with your cars and give them a proper burial. Since you all value life sooo much.
Or maybe we as a society just get attached to public figures and then act like we care so much about them, as an outlet to justify how we ignore the living beings we actually could reach and make a difference with … but don’t. You guys are all blasting this dude for being “insensitive”, but really what positive change does you whining about it here actually make? If you wanna show Haskins and his family respect, then research a cause he or they believe(d) in, and make a donation. Donate your time to someone still alive who needs it. Make a difference in society. Don’t sit here and judge peoples posts and think that qualifies you to any moral high ground if you take no action in real life.
Do you care this much about every single stranger that dies too early? Or do you just care this much because you’ve followed his career as a public figure? If this story is only making headlines because of his football career, then how can it be inappropriate to mention and opine on his football career? I’m sick of seeing you guys gang up on Ed, when he’s really just making common sense.
I appreciate the show of support, but I don’t put much stock in what these posters are replying to me. I don’t know them, so their opinion matters very little to me.
My cut through all the nonsense and just to see things as plainly as I can isn’t a very popular stance. I did that for a long time over on the MASN and former ESPN message boards for the O’s and Ravens. Got a lot of heat for it, but in the end, they’d always come back and say, “He was right.”
A young man lost his life and that indeed is tragic and sad. A terrible accident. Something that happens every day, numerous times a day, all over the world. Without football, chances are nobody outside of his family and circle of friends would know who he is.
The news of a celebrity passing is like the news of anyone passing to me that I don’t know personally, it is sad. I share your love of animals as well as I was raised around them. Lost quite a few over the years and that is always a terrible thing. When I see an animal hit on the side of the road it makes me feel a bit sad, too.
That is an awesome thought. If these people screaming about all the outrage they feel, if they really want to do something special, they should do exactly what you suggest. Contact the family, ask them about a charity or organization that Dwayne supported or would have liked to have a donation made in his honor.
One of the best college QB’s ever! Way too young. Prayers for his family, friends and teammates!
In Heaven, he’ll play like he did at Ohio St.
Except that heaven doesn’t exist. Dead is dead.
wow owned. but really man, get a job.
believe in God and you will receive life in Heaven. i’m gonna leave it at that. i’ll pray for you
Do you believe that what you believe is really real?
On what basis?
“Lean not on your own understanding”.
it’s not of my own idea or understanding. “believe what has been spoken to you from the Lord” -the bible
i respect you and your belief no matter what. it’s not my job to make sure you believe in God. i’m responsible for getting myself to heaven, that’s all. but if possible, i’d love to bring as many people to god as possible. i’ll say a prayer for you. i have doubts of my own, but one thing that will never waver is that i know God loves me, and he loves you.
Horrific story. RIP.
An Extreme Talent, about to turn things around in his favor!! RIP
I’m very curious as to why he was walking around at 6:30am and crossing an intestate highway. Seems odd to me. I don’t want to be presumptuous, but it seems like something must have been out of sorts with him at the time of this tragic and sad incident.
I’m with you on that one! I don’t want to be insensitive, but why would anyone ever try to cross the interstate on foot? It’s nothing like jaywalking across the street, the cars are moving twice as fast & there’s no red lights!
I don’t think it’s insensitive at all to ask those questions. It must be first of all, what the trucker who hit him is wondering. It must be what his family is wondering. It must be what the police and investigators are in the process of finding out. For a millionaire to be crossing an interstate highway at 630am on foot, there has to be some kind of extenuating circumstance. Not going to speculate what that could be, but just saying I’m curious as to what it is or was. Assuming the trucker is a decent human being and wasn’t negligent in any way, they must be going through some serious trauma right now.
According to reports from Miami, his car ran out of gas and was hit while getting out of the driver’s side door.
From what I understand is that the car ran out of gas. It was a rental car he was unfamiliar with. he got out of the car and was supposedly trying to cross the highway and that’s when he got hit.
One can only make presumptions from that information. It seems logical that if the car ran out of gas, he got out of the car, looked around for the nearest exit and it must’ve been on the other side of the highway. If anything, it was just a really poor decision to make.
I don’t know if he had a cellphone with him. I would assume he did. If he did, did it have service, etc.? Because I am wondering at that point, why not call somebody for help? AAA, the Steelers, a friend on the team…somebody. Maybe that thought just didn’t cross his mind. I know I didn’t always think the things through in the most logical ways when I was that age.
If there was anything insensitive to do at this point, it would be to suggest motives for his passing based on information we just don’t have. Until any more details come out, I will just rely on the fact that it was a terrible accident and indeed something very sad and tragic.
Yeah, exactly.
Why was he trying to cross the highway anyway? Was he battling depression and was suicidal?
Supposedly ran out of gas.
Really sad. Serious prayers.
Just a month ago I was almost run over by a dump truck just by crossing the street in front of one. He pulled out and I yelled at him. He yelled back at me which I was like…? Bruh, it’s red. Stop! WTF?
I’ve worked on one of those trucks too. It’s no joke. Trash trucks are probably one of the more dangerous items on the road, to be hit or work on one.
i’m incredibly grateful you were safe. i don’t know who you are, but i know that the world is a better place because of you. i’m happy you stayed safe
Thank you, that’s very kind of you to say so. I have my days where I wonder LOL.
Just a word to the wise — no, they don’t see you, and that goes for full size trucks too. Please be careful.
of course, we’ll i mean everything i said. well i can tell you this, i know that you’re here for a reason, and that every breath you take makes this world a better place
Totally, as long as I brush my teeth first. 😛 Thanks!
Awkward. Tell the Care Bears I say hi, and please save me a spot in rainbow cloud land.
I’m glad maxj dude stayed safe and didn’t die also. Because of my general care for living beings. The insight on dump truck daggers was interesting. Glad he shared that. But the works being a better place? You don’t know him. That’s just patronizing and weird, and I’d be embarrassed Ian’s feel uncomfortable if a stranger said something like that to me.
And for reference, I had a classic Chevy Nova that I had just put a nice tidy sum into in order to restore it. Had it nice and cherry for about 2 weeks. Parked it outside my house in the street.
I woke up at about 5AM to a loud boom and yellow lights flashing through my window. I looked out side and saw my Nova shoved into my front yard. Since I was groggy, I was thinking, “Odd, I don’t remember parking it there.”
The trash truck when down the corner street and instead of turning around in court at the end of the road, decided to save time by reversing all the way back up the street, not stopping at the stop sign, and backing up around the corner onto my street….and into the front end of my car.
Now my car was parked and that thing was in reverse. How fast could it have been going? 10-15MPH? The ENTIRE front end of the Nova was crushed up into the windshield and folded up like an accodion. One wheel was bent and the tire popped. The front chrome bumper was knocked off. It was leaking every single fluid there was from the engine. It was shoved back five feet from where I parked it and knocked about 3-4 feet into my front yard from the road.
That was a full sized old 70’s Nova. He couldn’t see it. I chewed him out for being a careless driver and if that was a person behind him, he would have never seen them and killed them. We have a lot of walkers/runners/bikers in the area that go out for exercise during the early morning hours.
The thing is I’ve worked for the trash company as well. The culture (from what I can tell in my brief tenure)…sucks. It’s very demanding, competitive, MISERABLE, and doesn’t pay well at all.
You’re under the gun to load 300 driveways a morning. You get no lunchbreak other than pulling into Circle K for a hotdog (everyday), you eat in your truck and then go back onto a route (which in Florida is hot enough to give you a stroke) that’s poorly charted like a retarded spider web. If you don’t do your own diligence out of your own spare time the night before to re-order and ‘google map’ the entire list of stops, you’ll most likely find yourself criss-crossing all over the town hood-to-hood looking to load that 300+ driveways in under 6-7 hours.
So who would work this job? Most likely not people who attended the latest TED conference. The guy who almost ran me over had the half-brained audacity to yell back at me like it was my fault…? Some are good dudes, but it’s a poorly organized, underpaid competitive paper route culture that will hire anybody who can throw maggot-filled, diaper-oozing, needle-ridden (yeah) 40lb wet bags into a can. (sometimes with no lift in back if the truck is old)
Sorry to hear about your car, and you’re absolutely right. Unfortunately, there’s nobody who cares about trash routes enough to lobby for mandated standards for trash routes.
Just be careful is all I can advise people.
…to that end, if your car runs out of gas on a city freeway, don’t get out to find gas, CALL 911. There’s a reason why insurance is so high for towing.
Damn, that was very well articulated. You’re a great writer btw.
I figured that these guys are under a lot of duress in that field. But you really broke it down for me, in a way that I can understand it that much more now. I really appreciate you taking the time to do that.
In October, my fiancés best friend got murdered in front of her and our children. The most important thing we could do to move forward, was try to learn from the incident as best we could. It may have seemed insensitive at the time to illustrate all the bad decisions that lead to her and my family being put in the position they ended up in. But I was intent on having my family learn from it, so we could minimize our risks of being in a situation like that ever again. Same thing here. Hopefully this can bring some awareness to how dangerous getting out of your car and crossing a highway can be. Also, how messed up and dangerous the dump truck business can be. If they have workers on the roads not in proper mind-state to be driving safe and proper, then we need to hold them accountable to making some changes.
Thanks Lyman, I’m a freelance pro so I’m always pitching myself on paper. So if I’m a bit polished that might be why.
You’re welcome, the trash biz is a culture that can be oddly gossipy and competitive too (who’s with who, who’s getting the routes, etc.). A lot of it depends on who you ride with though, that plays a major role in your day. It’s a job that’s at the bottom of the LaborReady stack for those without PPE (boots, pants). The only good thing about it is from there you only have a whole lot to look up to. That job was a tattoo in my mind — never again. LOL
As for your fianceés best friend…Wow, that’s some serious dead-in-tracks gravity to deal with. OMG, man…I might write okay, but there’s not much I can say about that without sounding incredibly foolish. My own family went AWOL in their own f’d up way, but that’s severe. I think the hard part of that is the graphic nature of it all. Yeah, you’re right. What can you take with you from that? That’s psychologically where things end up after pain subsides enough to think (I would imagine). From there you educate others just cuz as a human being you have empathy to know what that feels like and wouldn’t want others to have to endure that as well.
Well, in all you’re most welcome for a bit of perspective on trash detail. If you ever break down on a city freeway, CALL 911. Don’t take it upon yourself to fix the situation. Let them bring the cones etc.
I hope you and yours are doing better. Everybody I know is dead and gone and I can tell you time does have a slow yet vacant way of putting things in the distance for new horizons.
I sold my haskins autographed rookie card on Ebay for 149.00 . Just two days ago I couldn’t get 5 bucks for it. RIP Duane haskins.
Ooooo … you can get in trouble for admitting that lol
R.I.E.F.P.(REST IN ETERNAL FOOTBALL PEACE).Way to young to leave us.❤ of a lion.Outstanding young man.