Monday's NFL: Autopsy shows Steelers QB Haskins was drunk when fatally struck

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins was legally drunk and had taken drugs before he was fatally struck by a dump truck while walking on a Florida interstate highway last month, an autopsy report released Monday concluded.

The Broward County Medical Examiner's Office said Haskins' blood alcohol content was 0.20 when he was fatally struck on Interstate 595 near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport just before dawn on April 9. That's 2.5 times the 0.08 legal limit for driving in the state.

According to the University of California, Davis, and other universities, someone of Haskins' weight, 230 pounds (104 kilograms), would have needed at least 10 drinks in the hours before his death to reach that level. He also had the strong painkiller ketamine and its metabolite norketamine in his system. The drug can be prescribed by a doctor, but can also be abused recreationally. The report does not say why the former Ohio State University star had it in his system.

The report said investigators found Haskins' car out of gas near where he was hit. A woman he was with told investigators Haskins, 24, had gone to get fuel. Witnesses said he was trying to wave down cars and standing in the center lane when he was hit by the truck and then an SUV. The report said he died of blunt force trauma. No charges have been filed.

The Steelers told investigators that Haskins had no mental health issues and had never made any suicidal threats. They said he sometimes drank heavily and sometimes used marijuana, but was not known to use any other recreational drugs. The medical examiner ruled the death an accident.

Haskins had been in South Florida training with some of his Steelers teammates. The report said Haskins had gone to dinner with teammates and then to a club with a friend or cousin, possibly in Miami. The two got into an argument and separated.

Haskins had been on the phone with his wife, Kalabrya, back in Pittsburgh shortly before he was struck, telling her he had run out of gas. She told a 911 dispatcher she was worried when he didn't call back and wasn't answering her calls. She could be heard praying on the recording after the dispatcher put her on hold to find out if anything had been reported. The dispatcher then told her to stay by her phone and someone would contact her.

Haskins starred at Ohio State in 2018, setting several school passing records and being named the MVP in both the Big Ten Championship game and in the Buckeyes’ Rose Bowl win over the Washington Huskies.

A 2019 first-round NFL draft pick by Washington, Haskins was released by the team after going 3-10 over two seasons. He was signed by Pittsburgh as a developmental QB, but he didn’t appear in a game last season.

Commanders buy Virginia land for possible stadium site

The Washington Commanders have bought land in Woodbridge, Virginia, for what could be a potential site of the NFL team’s next stadium, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Monday because the team had not announced the acquisition. The Commanders paid approximately $100 million for 200 acres of land in Prince William County and are still considering other locations in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, the person said.

This site is just over 20 miles outside D.C., about a 45-minute drive from RFK Stadium, which was the team’s home from 1961-1996. The Commanders’ current lease at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, expires in 2027.

ESPN, which first reported the sale, added that the site is the team’s preferred choice for a 60,000-seat domed stadium that would be available for use year-round and include a practice facility and amphitheater. Building a stadium that could host a Super Bowl has long been considered one of the organization’s goals.

Owner Dan Snyder and Co. have been looking at several possible sites in D.C., Maryland and Virginia, though the specter of investigations into the team's finances clouded how those jurisdictions might handle helping him finance a stadium.

The Maryland House last month approved a $400 million plan to develop the area around FedEx Field that did not include money for a new stadium. Virginia lawmakers failed to pass legislation that would make it favorable for the Commanders to build their next stadium there.

QB Nick Foles reunites with Frank Reich, signs with Colts

Indianapolis — Now Nick Foles and Frank Reich can start diagramming the "Indy Special."

The Colts announced Monday they had signed Foles to a two-year contract that reunites the quarterback and coach who combined on a trademark play call to help the Philadelphia Eagles win the 2017 NFL title.

Foles adds depth behind 37-year-old Matt Ryan, the league's 2016 MVP whom Indy acquired from Atlanta in a March trade. And it gives Reich a proven backup, someone he knows well and who had long been rumored to be Indianapolis bound.

“I love Nick Foles,” Reich said when the rumors began last August after Carson Wentz injured his foot in training camp. “I haven’t talked to him, but I think he’s a great player, I think he’s proven that. I think he’s a great teammate. There’s nothing about Nick Foles that I don’t like. I think he’s a winner. He’s certainly a guy that fits our kind of culture but he plays for the Chicago Bears.”

Foles spent the past two seasons in Chicago but appeared in only one game in 2021. The Bears were still paying him under the four-year, $88 million contract he signed with Jacksonville in 2019. Chicago released the 10-year veteran May 1.

It didn't take long for Reich and Foles to get back together.

Two weeks ago, they appeared together in Buffalo at Reich's Call to Courage Awards breakfast. Monday's announcement means they'll be spending time working at the Colts' complex, figuring out how best to use Foles and maybe even replicate his touchdown catch in the Super Bowl that was dubbed the “Philly Special.”

“Frank was the one who recognized before the playoffs that the way that we were designing plays for me wasn’t exactly my strength,” Foles said on a November 2019 conference call, referring to the only season they were together in Philadelphia.

“He was someone who observed that and he impacted me because he recognized that in me.”

A backup to Wentz in Philadelphia, Foles took over late in the 2017 season when Wentz injured his knee. He led the Eagles to the Super Bowl, outdueled Tom Brady in a 41-33 victory over New England and was the game's MVP.

He also helped the Eagles win a playoff game at Chicago the next season before joining the Jaguars. Foles barely played in Jacksonville after breaking his collarbone in the season opener.

He eventually landed in Chicago where he backed up Justin Fields last season.

By adding Ryan and Foles, the Colts have solidified a position where they didn't even have a clear starter in mid-March. They traded Wentz to the Washington Commanders after just one season. They got Ryan for a third-round pick when it became clear the Falcons were looking for Ryan's successor.

Now, with two Super Bowl-playing quarterbacks, the Colts have one of the league's most experienced quarterback depth charts.

Foles has played in 68 career games (56 starts) with five franchises, including twice with the Eagles. He has completed 1,277 passes for 14,003 yards with 82 touchdowns and 43 interceptions. He has started six postseason games, with 1,633 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions.

Indianapolis released quarterback James Morgan to make room for Foles on the roster.