Before Sam Howell was dealt to the Seahawks, the quarterback attracted interest from a handful of other suitors. As ESPN’s Brady Henderson writes, at least three other teams negotiated a Howell trade with the Commanders.
[RELATED: Commanders To Trade QB Sam Howell To Seahawks]
One of those squads is believed to be the Rams, who have already pivoted away from Carson Wentz as Matthew Stafford‘s primary backup. When the Rams lost out on the Howell sweepstakes to their division rival, they ended up pivoting to veteran Jimmy Garoppolo, who will miss the first two games of the season after being suspended for PEDs. There was some recent chatter that the Rams could be a suitor for Jets bust Zach Wilson, and it seems pretty clear that the front office was looking to reset the QB depth chart with a veteran backup and a reclamation project.
Ultimately, the Seahawks won out, sending a third- and fifth-round pick to Washington for Howell, a fourth-round pick, and a sixth-round pick. Seattle has made it very clear that Geno Smith still sits atop the depth chart, although general manager John Schneider recently admitted that his newest acquisition could “absolutely” be a full-time starter (via Henderson).
Howell was sacked a league-high 65 times last season. As Henderson notes, part of that blame has been placed on Howell, who has been criticized for holding the ball too long. However, the Seahawks are convinced the QB was “hesitant while playing behind a struggling O-line,” and he could excel with better personnel.
With that in mind, the Seahawks still have work to do on their own offensive line, with both guard spots currently open. Henderson points to free agents Laken Tomlinson and Cody Whitehair as two potential targets for the organization.
I bet they beat out Denver too and maybe even the Steelers before they wanted fields
You beat me to it, but I was going to say that I thought that Howell could have potentially been a great possibility with Sean Payton as a cheap trade piece. It would give Denver a project so that they didn’t need to bet too hard this year on getting the right rookie quarterback-maybe they could spend that pick on another piece, or even move down and still nab a contributor.
Howell is young enough to still develop, but experienced enough to serve as a bridge in case the right guy does fall to the Broncos. Howell’s also shown some traits that the young Brees had, and it’s possible that Payton could have had something successful develop with him. If not, he wouldn’t be expensive, and could be surpassed in a year or two by a rookie.
Broncos are being incompetent once again
Yeah, we’ll see how their draft shakes out, but I have a feeling that they’ll trade up for an average to above average QB instead of trying to fill the holes from their recent departures. If they don’t do that, and take one of the less costly QBs while grabbing a stud at another position of need, I’ll feel much better about them going forward.
I thought that Howell and Minshew were perfect moves for where they’re currently at. Those were guys young enough to still develop, but also not high end enough to where they couldn’t be replaced by a franchise guy.
The o line he had really stunk, but the offense was throwing way too much also… balance would have helped him more.
Washington allowed the most points in football, so he had to throw a lot, and he’s taken a lot of sacks even going back to college. Bad combination.
Didn’t he say the same thing about Drew Lock?
I wonder if the Saints were one of the teams
You probably have no business being an NFL coaching assistant if you can’t help a QB speed up his pass delivery to avoid sacks. Howell looks like he has a ton of upside for a guy drafted in the 5th round. The Rams probably should have pushed harder for him because Jimmy G is made of glass.