MIAMI — Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins was killed when he was hit by a dump truck while walking on Interstate 595 early Saturday morning, according to Florida Highway Patrol.
His agent Cedric Saunders told ESPN’s Adam Schefte that Haskins, 24, was in South Florida training with other Steelers quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers.
Around 6:40 a.m., Haskins was trying to cross the westbound lanes of Interstate 595 on foot between the exits for I-95 North and I-95 South. An oncoming dump truck hit him, according to FHP. He died on the highway.
All westbound lanes of I-595, between north and south of I-95, were closed until early Saturday afternoon.
Haskins, who’s originally from New Jersey, became one of the most sought-after high school quarterbacks in the country at Bullis in Potomac, Maryland, and committed to the Ohio State Buckeyes. After two years on the bench in Columbus, Haskins was one of the best quarterbacks in the nation as a redshirt sophomore, earning first-team all-Big Ten Conference honors and finishing fourth in voting for the Heisman Trophy as he threw for 4,831 yards, 50 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
He headed to the NFL after his breakout year and Washington selected him with the No. 15 overall pick in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft, anointing him as its starting quarterback in the first month of his rookie season. He wound up starting seven games before an injury cut short his rookie year.
Haskins entered his second season as a team captain and starter, but only started six games before being benched for poor play. Washington cut him before the end of the season and Haskins later signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He did not see any game action last season and was still under contract with the Steelers, hoping to compete to replace longtime quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who retired in January.
In his NFL career, Haskins started 13 games and completed 60.1% of his passes for 2,804 yards, 12 touchdowns and 14 interception
In a statement sent to EPSN’s Schefter, Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin said Haskins “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.”
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(Miami Herald Reporter Devoun Cetoute contributed to this report.)
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