Don't Be Mad at Ron; Blame Dan

Ron Rivera is beloved by many in the media because of his willingness to talk & be transparent. Until he makes a move they don't like.

Ron Rivera and the Washington Football Team are getting criticized by many local and national pundits and of course fans in the D.C. area, that follow the team on a much closer basis. 

We all have opinions and almost all of them stink. Except mine, of course! 

Here's the deal. Ron Rivera benched Dwayne Haskins in my mind a bit too early. I would have given Haskins at least this week to see if he could continue some of the momentum that he built last week. 

However, don't blame Rivera if you disagree with the move. Blame Dan Snyder. 

He's the one who picked him. Against many recommendations that he shouldn't. Certainly not at No. 15 overall in 2019. 

Rivera didn't choose Haskins. He inherited him. Four games is enough in a league that stands for Not For Long and with a historically impatient owner. 

Mike Shanahan, if you believe him and several others, lost full control of football operations four months into his tenure when the executive branch swung a deal for Donovan McNabb. 

Jay Gruden never had full control but he sure had a lot of influence in 2016 & 2017 only to lose it when his team couldn't get over the hump. 

Rivera has full power and Snyder has been on his best football behavior for the last ten months, but how long will that last? 

He feels he has to win soon, if not now. He knows he has an impatient boss and a torn fan base who has been pummeled into submission by the never ending chaos. 

He saw an opportunity in the awful NFC least. Rivera pulled the trigger. 

The problem is he's now getting a lot of the criticism. That's absurd! 

Rivera is not the problem. Haskins' reported work ethic (which we all know about) and Snyder are the problem. 

They left Rivera with very little choice. 

Haskins should not have been the No.15 pick last year. Everyone knows that and saw it in the pre-draft process. He was my favorite quarterback in the draft class because of his arm and accuracy but also because I didn't think Kyler Murray would be able to stay healthy. I was never in on Daniel Jones. 

I was also very wrong. 

We still don't know what Rivera and the Carolina Panthers' grade on him was but it's almost impossible to believe that it was a very high mark. 

When Rivera took the job - he cited that he was excited about the young talent on the roster. 

What he couldn't have known for sure was how Haskins worked and interacted behind the scenes. The book on the young quarterback was filled out by Kyle Smith and other friends/associates that Rivera leans on and trusts. 

He was armed with plenty of information plus the tape from last year. 

Even in a absurdly abnormal offseason with no preseason games, Rivera had his doubts. Haskins kept proving that he was working hard on his body on Instagram. 

There was no way to really know how hard he was working away from the social media emporium he's built with the exception of tests, quizzes and monitoring digital time that Haskins was spending or not spending. 

Over and over again this offseason, I cited the need for Rivera, Scott Turner and Ken Zampese to work with Haskins every day first before we crowned him. 

ESPN's Dan Orlovsky: The Quarterback Isn't the Problem

Now they have and it's more than apparent that they didn't like what they observed. 

That doesn't mean he didn't work at all. Just not enough. Kids and young adults often don't understand what it takes and how hard being an adult is. 

Haskins apparently hasn't figured out the right recipe for success but that might be just the nature of being a young man used to having success because of his rocket arm. 

So maybe - we shouldn't fully blame Haskins. We certainly shouldn't blame Rivera. He tried to make this work. 

He could have hit the red light from the start. 

Instead, we should blame Snyder for being the adult in charge left standing from the previous regime but remember this -- Snyder is not only not a scout or personnel guru - but he's a HORRIBLE judge of people and human beings. 

Snyder has often acted immature and oblivious to reality while hiring people that got drunk with power and control, while treating people like garbage. 

So not only did he make a football evaluation against his football executives and coaches wishes, but he also ignored the very real set of problems that Haskins has, which extend far beyond turnovers and missing receivers. 

Louis Riddick: Dwayne Haskins Needs a Better Organization

That's all valid but work ethic and maturity is two enormous must-haves for quarterbacks in the NFL to succeed. Haskins has repeatedly come up way short in that area in the view of several head coaches like Urban Meyer, Jay Gruden, Bill Callahan and almost surely Rivera. Not to mention coaches and coordinators like Kevin O'Connell and Scott Turner. 

So don't blame Rivera for not having patience and a long rope. Blame the man who did a terrible evaluation of a quarterback and a young man and now has the wreckage to clean up and deal with. 

Chris Russell is the Publisher of this site, a part of SI.com. He can be heard on 106.7 The FAN in the Washington D.C. area and world-wide on Radio.com. Chris also hosts the "Locked on Washington Football Team" Podcast and can be read via subscription to Warpath Magazine. You can e-mail Chris at russellmania09@Gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @Russellmania621