Sam Howell is Geno's Backup!!

[MizzouHawkGal]

Well after reading some stuff about him he seems like a pretty good pickup he's only 23 which is younger then many of the quarterbacks in the draft and he has 18 games of NFL experience so maybe we may have something.

 

[LTH]

I wish JS would have left with Pete

LMAO!!! Oh my goodness it's already started and we haven't even got to the draft...LMFAO!!! this is going to be a really interesting season watching the drama of the fan base... you go girls LMAO!!!!

LTH

 

[chris98251]

Sounds a lot like Favre, Atlanta gave him a shot, he threw an interception and never seen the field again is the story I remember, Green Bay trades for him and he never looks back, Knox wanted him for Seattle but Behring wanted another player, I can't remember who at the moment.

 

[DJ_CJ]

Literally picked swapped getting a guy on the cheap. Only 23 and played in a shitty scheme that was missing Terry most of the year. Zero risk with possibility of high reward.

 

[Maelstrom787]

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.

I disagree with #1. He isn't the fastest, but he is a dual threat who ran for 828 yards in his last year at UNC. He can scramble and I actually think it'd be impractical to try to take that aspect of his game away.

His biggest issue is pocket operation. He holds the ball way, way too long and tries to hero-ball the game way too often. He took 65 sacks behind a line that ranked 14th in PBWR. He is directly responsible for a large portion of his sacks, and as it stands, he is not a functional quarterback until that aspect of his game is cleaned up.

I agree that some under-center to balance things out would be overall beneficial for his game, but this isn't a guy who is going to look to sit and carve from the pocket. He has a natural tendency to move and bail. He does, however, prioritize keeping his eyes downfield while doing so.

 

[Maelstrom787]

Literally picked swapped getting a guy on the cheap. Only 23 and played in a shitty scheme that was missing Terry most of the year. Zero risk with possibility of high reward.

There is some risk. Those pick swaps were decently high value slots, far more valuable than the pick used to select him in 2022.

The reward potential does probably outweigh the risk, but it isn't a trivial amount of risk. That was some legit value we surrendered to nab him.

 

[bsuhawk]

I was actually relieved when I saw what Seattle gave up to get Howell. When I first saw the headlines I thought for sure that JS had traded a 3rd for him. When I saw it was a swap of a mid-3rd for a high 4th (plus the 5th and 6th swap) I felt much better. Howell has a ton of arm talent and showed this past year just how tough he is. What Washington did to him should be illegal. Your first-year starting QB should NOT lead the league in passing attempts.

Howell absolutely has QBOTF arm talent. He's also a better athlete than I originally thought. His interception and sack totals don't bother me at all. He's a count too slow working through his progressions, has trouble locating his check-downs, and hasn't learned when to be aggressive and when to dial it back. This is all typical of a young QB and fixable. What he needs now is the Drew Lock treatment. Let him sit behind Geno for a year or two and figure things out. Then when Geno's done we'll find out if Howell's the real deal.

 

[chris98251]

Well I hope that London learned a few things, he does not have a deep resume when it comes to being a QB coach, mostly RB experience.

 

[TwistedHusky]

Projecting him as QBOTF is insane.
So is funding your retirement by buying lottery tickets.
It does not mean you might not get lucky and potentially win a million dollars or the whole jackpot.

It just means planning for that outcome makes no sense.
He COULD get MUCH better. The odds of him being a top 10 starter or even top third starter are stacked against him. Heavily.


But as a backup, he is solid. As a lower tier starter, he is serviceable.
He likely won't be a guy that drives teams through the playoffs and he won't likely ever be a guy that carries teams.
And his instincts that lead to mistakes will likely be difficult, if not impossible, to completely remove.
But as a guy to win more games than he starts? Get you to .500 or keep you from sinking too low if your starter goes down for 3-4 games? Absolutely.

 

[Wheetie]

I disagree with #1. He isn't the fastest, but he is a dual threat who ran for 828 yards in his last year at UNC. He can scramble and I actually think it'd be impractical to try to take that aspect of his game away.

His biggest issue is pocket operation. He holds the ball way, way too long and tries to hero-ball the game way too often. He took 65 sacks behind a line that ranked 14th in PBWR. He is directly responsible for a large portion of his sacks, and as it stands, he is not a functional quarterback until that aspect of his game is cleaned up.

I agree that some under-center to balance things out would be overall beneficial for his game, but this isn't a guy who is going to look to sit and carve from the pocket. He has a natural tendency to move and bail. He does, however, prioritize keeping his eyes downfield while doing so.

So you're saying he's a young Russell Wilson? I'll take that all day...

 

[CallMeADawg]

This was a steal for Seattle. I think a lot of people are crying and not looking at Washington's draft position. JS basically traded back twice, and not by a massive amount, for a QB.

 

[Germanhawk7]

I don't understand all the hate.
Sam Howell is 23 years old, the same age as Jayden Daniels and 1 year younger than Bo Nix.
He's already made 18 starts and his first half of the season was really really good except for the Buffalo Game.
First 10 Starts 2800 Yards, 17 TD/ 9INT (4 against Buffallo).
Bieniemy also completely burned him, Sam had over 600 ATT, more than any other QB in the league as a fuc*** 5th Round Starting QB. He didn't have a good o-line or a viable running game and his receivers aside from McLaurin were crap.
We didn't even give up any picks for the kid, we just moved back 20 positions twice and saved 4 million on top compared to Drew, what more could you ask for?
It's really annoying how every QB in the draft is the holy cow. McCarthy wasn't even seen in round 1 a couple weeks ago now he probably goes top 5, Bo Nix is only taken because he's the 5th QB and Drake Maye had the exact same stats in the same college as Sam Howell but they spend the #3 overall pick on him?

Drake Maye

CMP	ATT	CMP%	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	LNG	SACK	RTG
7	10	70.0	89	8.9	1	0	46	1	177.8
342	517	66.2	4,321	8.4	38	7	80	40	157.9
269	425	63.3	3,608	8.5	24	9	77	29	149.0

Sam Howell

CMP	ATT	CMP%	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	LNG	SACK	RTG
259	422	61.4	3,641	8.6	38	7	68	36	160.2
237	348	68.1	3,586	10.3	30	7	87	33	179.1
217	347	62.5	3,056	8.8	24	9	76	48	154.2

 

[Scout]

The highly talented Commanders defense cratered which was a big reason Ron Rivera was fired. There were issues on offense as well, so it is not like Howell was operating under a stable team structure. That is a lot to ask a young QB to overcome with limited experience.

Howell needs to sit and learn some more and process faster to cut down on sacks. Also operating under a more balanced offensive system helps where he isn't asked to drop back 612 attempts which is absurd.

 

[Nv_Hawks]

I for one seem to like the trade. You give up a 3rd, for a young QB who's started 18 games at 23. Like many have said, he's younger than Nix and same age as Daniels and Penix. We've seen what he can do and what he needs to work on and the others haven't stepped on the field yet. His NC sophomore year, where he was in a spread offense, much like the new Hawks might run, he flourished. Now we can focus our attention on the OL, DL and LB. I'm sure we're trading back for draft capital to build this team back up.

 

[MoldyPurpleMayo]

After taking the day and the night to think about this, a few thoughts come to mind:

*JS was "smitten" over Howell in the 2022 draft. How do we know he wasn't banging his fists on the table to draft him and Pete said no and gave his loyalty to Geno?
*JS had probably talked to Grubb already about this before it happened, I don't think John would've made the trade without Grubb knowing and approving.
*2 years, 1.1 mill per is a pretty solid deal for a backup QB with enough potential to become a starter
*Also, with 2 years of a cheap contract, it excuses the Hawks from risking a bad QB pick in next year's draft which is a horrible QB draft class
*Howell has a full arsenal of legit weapons to utilize as opposed to Washington's. I think he will look a LOT better because of that.
*I fully expect JS to trade down from 16 now, probably out of the first round altogether to obtain more draft picks

 

[Jac]

It's really annoying how every QB in the draft is the holy cow. McCarthy wasn't even seen in round 1 a couple weeks ago now he probably goes top 5, Bo Nix is only taken because he's the 5th QB and Drake Maye had the exact same stats in the same college as Sam Howell but they spend the #3 overall pick on him?

I'm 100% on board with us starting to draft QBs again while acknowledging that over half of the guys being talked about in this year's first round will outright fail, and another quarter will disappoint. Howell put up better numbers than Trevor Lawrence (year 1; comparable year 3), Justin Fields, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance (shouldn't count because this was a catastrophically stupid pick), Mac Jones, Kenny Pickett, Desmond Ritter. In fact, you have to go back to 2020 to Joe Burrow, who was ON PACE to have Howell's yards/TD stats before his injury and then flash forward to 2023 with CJ Stroud's amazing rookie year. Of course, there's Purdy but you can't plan your franchise QB/draft strategy around lighting in a bottle. QB's take time, and he's shown he has NFL QB DNA. Many of these other guys have not, and some in this year's first/second round will not.

 

[Hotchy]

I like the trade a lot. All the hate, but he's going to win the starting gig. No more Pete's favorites

 

[Jac]

Flip side of all this is that I think there's a high probability that Howell has a better career that whoever Washington selects at #2.

 

[Hawkinaz]

Why did they bring in Mariota to backup Drake Maye instead of just leave Howell to be the backup? Once they got Mariota, they had little need to keep a QB who they benched last year and who lead the NFL in sacks and interceptions. Did Seahawks overpay for a QB they were ready to get rid of anyway? Giving up the third round pick hurts. You can often get a starter from the third round.

I can only guess my take is Washington wants an experienced QB to help bring along the QB they draft

There is a Washington YouTuber I have watched a few times he thinks the GM is trying to stockpile picks to make a trade up to the #1 spot for Williams

 

[Hawkinaz]

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

When I saw the notification on my phone from NFL.com that they had traded for a QB that threw for 3TDs against them my first thought was Fields mentally I was going Please God No!