Sam Howell to backup Geno Smith

[MackStrongIsMyHero]

https://www.fieldgulls.com/2024/3/14/24 ... commanders

Traded a 3rd and a 5th to get Howell, a 4th, and 6th.

ETA: A trade down from 16 is more and more and now more likely. Need LBs and IOL and DL.

[Agent 86]

https://www.fieldgulls.com/2024/3/14/24101167/trade-seattle-seahawks-acquire-sam-howell-from-washington-commanders

Traded a 3rd and a 5th to get Howell, a 4th, and 6th.

ETA: A trade down from 16 is more and more and now more likely. Need LBs and IOL and DL.

Not a bad pick up. He has 2 more years left on his rookie deal. This seems to point in the direction of Schneider not taking a QB in this years draft, and gives Geno some legit competition for the starting gig considering Howell started all 17 games last year for the Commanders. He had 21 TD passes and 3946 yards, completed 388 of 612 attempts (63.4%), but also had 21 INT's. Had 48 rushing attempts for 263 yards.

Looking at his college stats, he put up great numbers and also seemed to a good mobile QB with his rushing stats. I don't watch college, so can't go off of anything else but his stats.

[RiverDog]

Moving back a few slots at that point in the draft is probably not going to hurt us that much. I agree that this likely means that we're not drafting a QB, at least not in the first round and that it increases the likelihood of trading back.

[4XPIPS]

This still does not rule out drafting a QB in this upcoming draft, at least not a high pick. There are draft projections that coudl see Bo Nix slipping past the 1st and maybe 2nd round. Remember there were tons of draft gurus who had Malik Willis going in the first round and even in the top 5, but he fell all the way to the third and rightfully so as he hasn't worked out yet either. If Bo somehow slips to the 4th round I will still take a shot at him and see if he can develop.

I am not totally against the Sam Howell trade, but it will come down to how he plays in a completely new system and if he manage the offense with all new faces. Eric B was playing Madden football with him last season, and having him throw so much the offense wasn't balanced. Probably why Eric B never got a HC job.

I can't speak of Sam Howell, only from highlights of college and his stats. However, after some reading some of his draft analysis, it's interesting he was considered undersize and below average arm talent, some even say he has a long release which will pose problems at the NFL, and allow teams to get a beat on INTS. Well 21 INTS maybe the reason for that

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/100 ... arolina-qb

[NorthHawk]

He might be one of those QBs that JS liked coming out of College but didn't get the chance to draft. I agree that it's more of a sign he expects to trade down.

I'm interested in what type of OL the coaches want. Grubb said he wants maulers up front, but the team let Damien Lewis go at about 325 lbs and signed Nick Harris at about 295 lbs. On the other side we have Bradford at around 330 lbs.
Maybe they see Harris as an inexpensive backup and they intend to draft a mauling OG which there might be more than a few available up until maybe the 5th round. From a $ perspective Lewis signed for about $13.250 M/year and Harris is costing about $2.5M for this year and that $11 Million could help for next year's expected tight Cap if not more FA's this year.

[4XPIPS]

He might be one of those QBs that JS liked coming out of College but didn't get the chance to draft. I agree that it's more of a sign he expects to trade down.

I'm interested in what type of OL the coaches want. Grubb said he wants maulers up front, but the team let Damien Lewis go at about 325 lbs and signed Nick Harris at about 295 lbs. On the other side we have Bradford at around 330 lbs.
Maybe they see Harris as an inexpensive backup and they intend to draft a mauling OG which there might be more than a few available up until maybe the 5th round. From a $ perspective Lewis signed for about $13.250 M/year and Harris is costing about $2.5M for this year and that $11 Million could help for next year's expected tight Cap if not more FA's this year.

This is sort how I feel is how it went with Drew Lock. If they could have kept Drew Lock at the cost of Sam Howell they probably don't make this trade. Drew and Sam both had similar stats to their first stints in the NFL, both threw as much INTS as they did TDs. I would have rather kept Drew in for competition, but he would have been too expensive and Sam is definitely the cheaper option.

[jshawaii22]

Sam played the best game of his .300 win percentage career in Seattle last year --
Posting from 2023 SI:

Howell got off to a strong start, but after Week 10 when he threw for 312 yards and three touchdowns against the Seahawks, he hit a wall and struggled the rest of the way. He threw four touchdowns compared to 12 interceptions in his final six games of the 2023 season.

[Oly]

Washington is, and has been, a train wreck. The fact that Howell put up decent numbers on that team at least shows he has promise.

So the Hawks gave up positioning on two picks and have a capable backup QB for less than $1M/year. For a cash-strapped team, that's huge. Had the Hawks needed to spend more money at backup QB, they may not have been able to afford Dodson (just speculating).

I'm not expecting Howell to be great, but I think he has more promise that Lock and at less money. I think this is a savvy move.

[RiverDog]

Washington is, and has been, a train wreck. The fact that Howell put up decent numbers on that team at least shows he has promise.

So the Hawks gave up positioning on two picks and have a capable backup QB for less than $1M/year. For a cash-strapped team, that's huge. Had the Hawks needed to spend more money at backup QB, they may not have been able to afford Dodson (just speculating).

I'm not expecting Howell to be great, but I think he has more promise that Lock and at less money. I think this is a savvy move.

Howell's numbers weren't all that great. He threw as many interceptions as TD passes, never a good sign no matter how bad the rest of the team is. PFF ranked him 33rd out of 38 ranked QB's. He led the league in quarterback sacks, which likely explains some of that high TD:INT ratio, but his pocket time, ie the time from when the QB either throws or the pocket collapses, was one of the lowest in the league for starting QB's, an indication that the sacks may have been due more to his protection than it was his holding onto the ball too long ala you-know-who.

This is not that bad of a trade. We didn't give up any picks, just moved back a few slots. And Howell is young, just 23 years old, 10 years younger than Geno, so if he does happen to play well, he has a future with us. As young as he is, he still has two seasons and 18 career starts under his belt with two years remaining on his rookie contract at $1M a season vs. the $5M we would have paid had we kept Lock. Although it's an indication that we're probably not drafting a QB this year, it doesn't preclude us from taking one, either.

Given Macdonald's recent comments, it appears as if Geno's name is written in pencil, and it wouldn't surprise me if Howell is allowed to compete with him for the starting job. I'm under no illusion that Howell is our QBOTF, but the word is that Seattle has had their eyes on him for a while, meaning JS, who has shown some good judgement on QB's, has been eyeballing him, so who knows. At any rate, this is a very low risk, high reward trade.

[NorthHawk]

I'm not much concerned about his interceptions. Young QBs often have difficulties their first couple of years. Payton Manning set a record for interceptions his rookie year and although Howell has been in the NFL for 2 years, he only started 1 game his rookie year.
The Seahawks have their backup at a cheap rate for 2 years, and he might become a better QB in a system that gives him more time and what might be a better fit for his skill set, so moving down a number of spots isn't the end of the world and really with 2 3rd round picks, it makes it easier to move one of them down to the next round along with the 4th to 5th. Same number of picks spread out more.

[RiverDog]

I'm not much concerned about his interceptions. Young QBs often have difficulties their first couple of years. Payton Manning set a record for interceptions his rookie year and although Howell has been in the NFL for 2 years, he only started 1 game his rookie year.
The Seahawks have their backup at a cheap rate for 2 years, and he might become a better QB in a system that gives him more time and what might be a better fit for his skill set, so moving down a number of spots isn't the end of the world and really with 2 3rd round picks, it makes it easier to move one of them down to the next round along with the 4th to 5th. Same number of picks spread out more.

I'm always concerned about interceptions, but there are some factors to consider that might rationalize them somewhat. And that system that gives him more time than he's used to in Washington needs a helluva lot of work. Our offensive line was arguably worse than what Howell had to work with the Commanders. From PFF:

The Seahawks tied for the fourth-worst pass-blocking efficiency in the NFL after surrendering 229 pressures on 635 pass plays.

We have some major gaps to fill along the OL. Both our tackles regressed, Lucas might have a chronic knee problem, we lost one of our starting guards and our best blocking TE to free agency, Evan Brown wasn't the solution to our center problems, and we have virtually zero depth.

[MackStrongIsMyHero]

Evan Brown wasn't the solution to our center problems,

I don't think he was the problem to our center problems either. I he was just there. Agree that it would be nice to have better than average play at C. Haven't seen the likes of it since Max Unger.

[NorthHawk]

IOL and Center in particular have been a blind spot during the Carroll era.
Let's see if it continues with Schneider at the helm.