I feel like a fair amount of people are overlooking the fact that Howell costs 1 fifth what Lock would have cost us this year.
Lock signed a one year deal for $5 million fully guaranteed. Howell will be making slightly under $1 million this season. That's a pretty big difference.
Also, Lock will be a free agent again after this season. Howell will still be under contract for another year, at only $1.1 million. So we won't have to go find another backup QB again next year if they don't want to (assuming Howell is the backup).
Also, trading back isn't the same as losing draft picks. We don't have any fewer picks than we had before. We traded back less than a round x2 for a very cheap young QB that has played very well at times on a team that threw him to the wolves and surrounded him with a terrible supporting cast.
There's also a chance he turns out to be a decent, or even good starting QB in a better situation than what he was in. The Washington Commanders organization is pretty close to dumpster fire territory.