I am known as a Geno fan, but I don't think Howell is without merit. He reminds me of a really interesting mix of Baker Mayfield and Russell Wilson.
Sure, last year wasn't pretty. He took almost 70 sacks, and he did it with a line that was as good or even slightly better than ours when it came to how many pressures they were allowing. That's the difference right now between the caliber of Geno and Sam - Sam can't operate through that yet, whereas Geno can take that and still turn out a top-10 lowest sacked rate because he learned timing and pocket navigation.
With that being said, Geno didn't ALWAYS have that, and it wasn't coached into Sam. The goal would be to do so here.
Howell is scrappy. He'll never be that deliberative, surgical general that leads the team on his arm like a Peyton Manning. He'll never be that spread-god pocket passer archetype like Geno. What he will be is an improvisational shotcaller with the ability to scramble and chuck it deep. Sam loves pushing the ball vertically, attacking seams, attacking the boundary, and he's bad at essentially everything Russell Wilson was bad at.
As we learned with Russ - you give him a great rushing attack and you can mitigate those factors. Same is true with Sam, but Sam's a projection. We don't know what he's capable of picking up. What we do know is that the potential IS there regardless of how many people want to wring their hands about his interceptions/sacks last year. Sam is a project, but he's a project that could really turn into something.
But yeah. Don't rush him into game action. He NEEDS this rehabilitative stint on the bench. It is critical.
To compare to our previous backup, Drew Lock - I like Lock better head-to-head if I had to choose one QB to play tomorrow, but I think Howell is the more talented player. Lock's got the physical stuff, but Howell's got more of a natural feel. I think Howell is the better bet to really, really take to coaching. I think Lock, you kinda get what you saw.