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Why did we get rid of Drew Lock and sign Sam Howell? Was this a salary cap move, a horizontal move or an upgrade? We saw little of Lock in action but the one game he started he pulled it out of the fire for us.

trents wrote:Why did we get rid of Drew Lock and sign Sam Howell? Was this a salary cap move, a horizontal move or an upgrade? We saw little of Lock in action but the one game he started he pulled it out of the fire for us.

Part of it had to do with money, for sure. Lock signed with the Giants for $3M, Howell comes in at under $1M.

But the other part is that JS supposedly liked Howell when he was in college, so he may see him as a potential QBOTF. Drew Lock wasn't going to be that guy. We weren't likely to get a shot at one of the top QB's in the draft, so Howell was essentially JS's draft pick.

trents wrote:Why did we get rid of Drew Lock and sign Sam Howell? Was this a salary cap move, a horizontal move or an upgrade? We saw little of Lock in action but the one game he started he pulled it out of the fire for us.

Both have very similar starts to their NFL careers, and Drew comes in to us a slightly higher price. He was the leading QB in last year's preseason and did admirably in his full start against the Eagles. There is some neck injury concerns with Daniel Jones, and he has been inconsistent at times so it would appear the Giants are a better fit for him to get a chance to start if Jones were to falter.

As for Howell, there is a lot we can learn from him opening season as the Commanders QB, and he threw a lot of passes leading the league in 612 pass attempts. He is still a work in progress, and if would be safe to say the upside is unknown with Howell, but there is the potential with a new coaching staff and a new offensive system he may thrive better in it then what he had with the Commanders.

Add in the Seahawks get an extra year on his rookie contract which saves some money.

Lock didn't outplay Geno, so he could either stay on as a backup for another year or take the chance to win a starting gig on another team. Howell doesn't have any expectation of starting this year and is the cheaper backup. His starting experience is a bonus though.

According to Spotrac, Sam Howell's Cap hit is $985,000 this year and $1,100,000 next year.
Drew Lock's Cap hit is $5 Million this year.
Howell is a much cheaper backup QB than we could get in FA - and he might have some potential to actually improve.

Howell is also just 23 years old, so I'm sure that played in his favor too.

With having played 1 year already, he has some experience and if he sits behind Geno for a year it could help his development considering it won't be new to him and he will have had some time to correct some of his flaws.
The game may also slow down for him so maybe he will turn out to be better than we expect.