Oly wrote: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.