Sam Howell is Geno's Backup!!

[Seahawkwalt1967]

Howell is inconsistent.
Makes poor decisions.
Falls apart under pressure.
And takes too many sacks and throws more picks than we want.

MAYBE he can become a serviceable starter but some of those are innate traits. You can gain skills and even improve with experience. But you either have tendencies/instincts to succeed or you don't.

He isn't going to be a better than average starter in this league. and some of those weaknesses will be difficult to overcome against better teams. (ie playoff teams)

But he can be a great backup. QBOTF is insane.

Washington OC had too many plays taking a long time to develop.. I think he will be a very solid player

 

[bigskydoc]

Coming in late, and not going to read 14 pages tonight, but until he proves otherwise, I’m not going to question Schneider’s QB evals.

 

[flv2]

Howell played well in the 1st half of last season. They were 4-5 at the trade deadline. At that point fans thought he was the QBOTF. They traded away their D-Line and conceded 27+ points every game after that to finish 4-13. It wasn't all the defense. During that period Howell regressed badly. When benched his veteran replacement played really well.

 

[Rat]

Five months ago, I posted a thread about Howell on reddit's NFL sub. It got zero upvotes and comprises 130 comments - mostly calling me stupid - but I think it was interesting nonetheless:

Title: To put in context what Sam Howell is doing, the last time a team found their franchise QB in the fifth round was when the Rams selected future HOFer Bob Waterfield in 1944

Body: The only other franchise QB even selected in the fifth round was Mark Brunell by the Packers in 1993. Over two seasons in Green Bay, Brunell completed 12 of 27 passes for 95 yards. He was then traded to Jacksonville in 1995 for a third and sixth rounder. In regards to contributions to the teams that drafted them, the best since Waterfield are guys like AJ Feeley, TJ Yates, Mike McMahon and Dan Orlovsky, who had their moments but never came anywhere close to becoming franchise QBs.

 

[GemCity]

Five months ago, I posted a thread about Howell on reddit's NFL sub. It got zero upvotes and comprises 130 comments - mostly calling me stupid - but I think it was interesting nonetheless:

Title: To put in context what Sam Howell is doing, the last time a team found their franchise QB in the fifth round was when the Rams selected future HOFer Bob Waterfield in 1944

Body: The only other franchise QB even selected in the fifth round was Mark Brunell by the Packers in 1993. Over two seasons in Green Bay, Brunell completed 12 of 27 passes for 95 yards. He was then traded to Jacksonville in 1995 for a third and sixth rounder. In regards to contributions to the teams that drafted them, the best since Waterfield are guys like AJ Feeley, TJ Yates, Mike McMahon and Dan Orlovsky, who had their moments but never came anywhere close to becoming franchise QBs.

I’m not sure of the actual amount but I do know that one of my pubes is more valuable than Reddit votes.

Good info tho!

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

Why?

 

[James in PA]

Can you imagine if we had traded for Fields? That thread would be up to page 30 by now.

 

[Bear-Hawk]

Can you imagine if we had traded for Fields? This thread would be up to page 30 by now.

NFL.com has a ranking of the 2023 starting QBs, if you’re interested. Fields ranks #20 and Howell #30.

 

[cymatica]

Led the league in int's and sacks...at least we got a top of stats player in two categories...

How did Geno look before he signed with Seattle?

 

[Wheetie]

Howell is inconsistent.
Makes poor decisions.
Falls apart under pressure.
And takes too many sacks and throws more picks than we want.

MAYBE he can become a serviceable starter but some of those are innate traits. You can gain skills and even improve with experience. But you either have tendencies/instincts to succeed or you don't.

He isn't going to be a better than average starter in this league. and some of those weaknesses will be difficult to overcome against better teams. (ie playoff teams)

But he can be a great backup. QBOTF is insane.

"Howell is inconsistent.
Makes poor decisions.
Falls apart under pressure.
And takes too many sacks and throws more picks than we want"...

And he's going into his 2nd year. C'mon man!

 

[SeaWolv]

Seriously, Howell is good. Ron Rivera and Eric Bienemy put him in an awful situation and he still looked like he a had a future in this league through the first 12 weeks. Um, ignore the Buffalo game if you look up those 12 weeks.

I might be on board here but man 21 TD's and 21 picks is tough to get past.

 

[warden]

I'm new here, but do this many people usually b**ch and moan about the moves the Seahawks make?

Yes they do, it is comical

 

[Cyrus12]

How did Geno look before he signed with Seattle?

We didn't give up draft capital for him.

 

[AROS]

Truthfully I really enjoyed watching him when I had the chance in 2023. Thought he had a lot of potential and reminded me of a young Josh Allen before Josh Allen became Josh Allen.

Give this kid a chance. He just might be the next Josh Allen and JS has earned our trust when it comes to his eye for QBs.

 

[Bear-Hawk]

Truthfully I really enjoyed watching him when I had the chance in 2023. Thought he had a lot of potential and reminded me of a young Josh Allen before Josh Allen became Josh Allen.

Give this kid a chance. He just might be the next Josh Allen and JS has earned our trust when it comes to his eye for QBs.

So try to answer this question: If the Commanders believed he has all this upside potential, why did they bring in Mariota and trade Howell for a 4th round pick?

 

[JayhawkMike]

Coming in late, and not going to read 14 pages tonight, but until he proves otherwise, I’m not going to question Schneider’s QB evals.

If I hit the powerball once it doesn’t make me a “power ball expert”.

JS has drafted ONE late round QB since RW and while some like GS I don’t feel like he’s going to take us any further than a first round playoff loss.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

I'm actually not disappointed about Howell he looked pretty good to me given the situation he was put into. Why I'm frustrated is us giving up draft picks for worse draft picks before we even try to draft a quarterback we keep trading for other teams castoffs it's infuriating.

Why won't JS ever actually draft a quarterback not named Russell Wilson or above the 7th round?

 

[Hawknight]

Some insight from one of their fans:

Commanders fan here who really feels like this is one of the dumbest trades they’ve made in 20 years. To tell you the truth?? I and several other Howell fans would “love” to see him have success with another team and I’ll give you the Playbook on what Sam needs in order to succeed. Your GM may not be listening but you never know.

#1. Eric Bienemy was putting him in the Shotgun for 100% of the plays last Season. Why?? Cause he didn’t understand that Howell wasn’t Mahomes!! Sammy is a pocket-passer, he’s not a dual threat QB and if you never put him Under Center it makes the offense “awfully predictable”……..You split Sammy with 1/2 the plays coming out of each formation it’ll keep Defenses off-balance. It wasn’t until Game 14 when he finally started putting Sammy Under Center but it was too late by then.

#2. Sammy can definitely thrive in an offense with WRs that are 6’0” or shorter but he will FAIL if he doesn’t have a tall WR and a tall TE to throw to. You want him to make miracles happen?? The great news is that you all have the 6’4” DK Metcalf, now just add a 6’4” TE that’s a George Kittle/Isaiah Likely type that will allow him throw over Defenses inside the 30. To the receiving corps out there?? He’s got a cannon for an arm so think of Favre, Marino & Bradshaw when the ball comes to you cause those are the kinds of bullets he’s capable of firing.

#3. He had no O-Line here so just like any other QB he definitely needs one of those.

#4. He doesn’t have to have a dominant running game but an RB Committee that gives him at least 1,400 yards a year will definitely help him tremendously.

#5. A 235lb FB like My Man Juszczyk in SF would help him tremendously but I know that FBs that size are a rare find these days.

So the main thing that Sammy didn’t have in DC was an O-line, the right weapons and balance in Shotgun & Under Center plays. You guys give him that?!? He’ll take you somewhere. Good luck to you.

 

[bileever]

I admit I was one of the first to be apoplectic about this trade when I first heard about it. Now that I've had time to think about it, and read all your comments, I feel somewhat better about Sam Howell.

I only saw a handful of Commanders games last season, and I didn't like what I saw of Howell. But I concede that Washington was a bad team going nowhere, and they basically threw him to the wolves. New owner, lame duck coach, Eric Bieniemy in his first OC stint calling plays and without Andy Reid. He may have done better under different circumstances.

I agree with the posters who say this is a low-risk, potential upside move. We don't know what we have in Sam Howell, but there is reason for hope.

I can see why John Schneider likes Howell. Howell is like the poor man's Josh Allen and we all have heard about Schneider's infatuation with Allen. Howell isn't as big, or as fast, or have as live of an arm. But he plays in a similar style, using his legs and getting yards on the ground. It's surprising that he's as effective as he is with his feet, considering that his 40 time is 5.07.

It isn't terrible to have a backup who's had a full NFL season under his belt. We'll have to wait and see.

 

[DJ_CJ]

What makes me wonder is why Washington let him go?

Do they have a backup signed?

They signed Mariota.