Dale Earnhardt Jr. loves his Washington Redskins, and, especially during football season, he regularly reminds the internet that his feelings mirror those of every Washington fan out there.
So when it comes to the 2020 NFL Draft, the retired NASCAR driver, of course, has some thoughts about what his team should do. Washington coach Ron Rivera recently said the team will enter camp expecting 2019 first-round draft pick Dwayne Haskins to be the starting quarterback, and Earnhardt said, while calling in to the Dan Patrick Show on Friday, that he’s “for sure” on board with that.
Patrick pointed out that the team, which has the No. 2 draft pick this year, could selected former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who suffered a season-ending hip injury in November and had surgery. However, Tagovailoa was recently medically cleared.
But Earnhardt — who’s been a fan of the team for nearly 40 years — explained why he’s willing (and hoping) his team takes the risk of passing on him.
Dale Jr. said:
“You have to worry about the injury and whether he can overcome that. Look, I am so far removed from it. Nobody but the insiders really know where’s Tua’s at physically. So the concern is that you take Tua and he doesn’t ever overcome that injury. Hips are serious deals, man. You don’t see a lot of guys come back from hip injuries and do well. But if we don’t draft him and he becomes this awesome player, that’s just a risk you take, and I’m willing to take that risk.
“Chase Young, he’s an awesome player. They’re talking about [how] he’s like a once-in-a-decade kind of player to be drafted for that position. With the other guys that we drafted on defense, especially defensive line, over the last several years, it would just make us really tough on the front line there.”
Washington, which finished with a 3-13 record in 2019, has had plenty of struggles over the last several years, but when Patrick asked if the longtime fan had ever considered switching teams, Earnhardt responded: “No! No. It could get a whole lot worse. I’m not even close to considering it.”
He also explained the hilarious reason why he likes some distance between himself and his team, which is why he could never adopt the Carolina Panthers. He continued:
“That’s too close to home, good Lord. Imagine being a Carolina fan and them having the last couple of decades that the Redskins have had, and you’re just living right underneath it. I don’t know if that’d be better. …
“At least where I’m at in North Carolina and [they’re] up there in D.C., and yeah, I’m frustrated and I’m upset, but it’s not right under my nose here.”
Fair point, Dale Jr.
Earnhardt and Patrick also talked about iRacing taking over the NASCAR community during the coronavirus outbreak and potential baby names for Dale Jr. and Amy Earnhardt’s second child.
