Get a veteran back-up for $10M over 2 years or trade some Draft capital and get an experienced young back-up for $2M over 2 years. The young back-up isn't the finished article and could improve. It's a choice of how you spend the resources and 1 isn't clearly better than the other. Neither option prevents a team from making a QBOTF move.
I kind of view it like this: Howell is basically a 4th/5th round draft pick on a 2 year deal instead of 4, and we got him a month before the draft begins and we could easily go back on this pick if we get a 'better' one.
He didn't look great (to say the least) with WAS and he's got issues. Well, so does every guy currently in line to be drafted. I put Howell's ability to become the QBOTF at about equal with anyone in the draft class.
Is he LIKELY to be a career backup? Yup. But so is every QB being drafted this year. That's just how it works.
The way I'm looking at this, this isn't any worse of a move than going for Rattler or Jordan Travis in the late rounds and with this move, we still have the same number of draft picks as we did before.
My point is that it is not a slam dunk that Geno is our man. As I said, the job is likely his to lose, but I do think that, depending on how Howell looks in camp and in preseason, that Geno could be on a short leash.
New head coaches frequently like to put their stamp on the team early, and that sometimes means their own quarterback vs. a holdover from the previous regime. Is Howell 'their man'? I dunno. I guess we'll have to wait to find out.
I'm not going to deny that new head coaches like to put their own stamp on the team, but Schneider just unprompted said 'Geno's the starter' in an interview right after this transaction.
Could, theoretically, Howell ball out so amazingly in camp and Geno's body have fallen off a cliff over the offseason that he loses the job? Yes, but the odds of that happening do not strike me as being anywhere close to high enough to justify the amount of (virtual) ink that is going to be spilt over it.