Free-agent quarterback Dwayne Haskins needs a new team. He also needs a new agent.
Haskins and David Mulugheta of Athletes First have mutually agreed to part ways, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com.
The term “mutual agreement” often is used as a P.R. device aimed. Rarely, if ever, is this type of breakup truly mutual. Maybe Haskins thinks he’s gotten bad advice. Maybe Mulugheta thinks Haskins has ignored good advice. Regardless, the chances that both sides coincidentally, mutually, and simultaneously decided to separate seems like a stretch.
Mulugheta and Athletes First will be entitled to fees on the remainder of Haskins’ guaranteed contract with Washington. Thus, the agency has a clear interest in helping the player fight any effort to withhold more than $4.2 million in unpaid salary, if Washington decides to try to not pay Haskins for 2021 or 2022, the final two years under his rookie deal.
Still 23, Haskins has time to turn his football career around. He’ll need to make a good decision about where to continue his career. He’ll need a good agent to guide him through the process of picking a new team, and possibly to sell a reluctant team on giving Haskins a second chance.