Ex-Captain Haskins' $40K 'Strip-Club' Visit: Inside The WFT Repercussions

ASHBURN, Va. - This isn't exactly the way a feisty Ron Rivera drew it up: Sandwiched between chaos and controversy ... and sandwiched between the two men who caused the chaos and the controversy, one of them whom he was forced by fate to make his starting quarterback, the other the man who signs Rivera's checks.

How convoluted have the QB Dwayne Haskins and the owner Daniel Snyder made this situation? Now it's Haskins who has to write a check - $40,000 worth, which makes his Sunday-night postgame hang in a strip club (or "private party,'' as Haskins has tried to correct) an exceedingly costly one.

Was it worth it?

Rivera has football issues to deal with. This week he's facing his former team, the Carolina Panthers, with a chance to win the division with his new WFT franchise.

But ...

We found out earlier on Wednesday that Haskins was indeed allowed to practice, took first-team reps and will start under center Sunday if Alex Smith can't go for Rivera.

We also found that he was stripped of his captaincy, was reportedly fined $40,000 and was spared further punishment because he was truthful to Rivera on Monday when confronted.

Rivera is in a very difficult position. The banged-up Alex Smith might not able to start and he might not be able to finish. With Kyle Allen unavailable, the coach has to choose between Haskins, Taylor Heinicke and Steven Montez.

If Haskins' mental state of mind is right, he might be best-equipped to win. But he's caused a distraction for himself here, too.

Then there's a message of accountability and the questions that Rivera now has to take on about "culture'' and essentially rewarding Haskins. He could have avoided that by benching Haskins and saying that Montez and/or Heinicke would be in uniform.

He chose to reward honestly and transparency from Haskins and while that is understandable, it also raises the question that must be asked. If this wasn't a must-win game, would the decision be different?

If Smith was completely healthy ... Would the Haskins punishment be harsher?

That's an answer we don't know because after five or six questions on Wednesday, Rivera barked at the media to stop its probe about the incident and to only ask about the upcoming game against the Panthers.

That is his focus and obviously should be.

But the media didn't create the Haskins problem; Haskins, and the organization that drafted him in the first round and now wrestles with how to best manage the situation created the problem.

Does the $40,000 fine fix the problem? Does the ex-captaincy do it? Would benching him do it?

If Haskins plays on Sunday, and if his performance is poor, and it that is combined with the WFT losing, the storylines will ooze.

The best-case scenario for Rivera and Washington is that Smith (who was limited Wednesday) is able to start and plays reasonably well with a limp, and that Haskins is an observer while the WFT wins - and if the Giants lose earlier in the day, Washington clinches the division.

That would calm down the furor and controversy on both a local and national level as far as what's happening in the players' wing of team HQ. (It wouldn't, however, do enough to calm the sex-scandal furor caused by other parts of the building.

Rivera knows it will look bad if his hope and faith in Haskins backfires. He took away his captaincy as a figurative and symbolic move and that's a good step, as we advocated for, but he better hope his defense answers the bell and then some Sunday at 4:05.

And, he better hope, a few hours after 4:05, he doesn't find out that any of his captains are committing COVID violations at a "private party.''