Dwayne Haskins will play in Washington’s preseason opener

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With all the talk regarding whether Colt McCoy or Case Keenum is the current No. 1 quarterback in Washington, it’s easy to forget that the No. 15 pick in the draft is lurking.

And regardless of what McCoy or Keenum do in the preseason opener at Cleveland, the more important question is whether and to what extent former Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins will thrive in his unofficial NFL debut.

“We’ll see how he does in a game,” Washington coach Jay Gruden told reporters on Tuesday, making it clear that Haskins and two other quarterbacks (presumably McCoy and Keenum) will play. “It will be kind of cool to see him in a game. We’ll see how he does. We’ll see how he’s taken what he’s done on the practice field to see how it transitions into a real game situation. And how he handles the huddles and cadence, anticipation, accuracy — all that good stuff.”

So Haskins is ready to play?

“Got to play sometime there, so now is as good a time as any,” Gruden said. “We’ll see how he does.”

Haskins is listed as the third-string quarterback on the supposedly “silly” and meaningless unofficial depth chart, behind McCoy and Keenum. But if Haskins ends up being the third quarterback in Thursday’s game, he’ll be playing behind low-level backup blockers who will be trying to fend off low-level defensive players who would love nothing more than to get the attention of their coach by knocking Haskins all the way from Cleveland to Columbus.

Thus, Gruden may need to tread lightly with his rookie quarterback, because the only thing clear about the depth chart at the position is that, eventually, Haskins will be the guy.