The expectations continue to rise for Washington Commanders quarterback Sam Howell. The second-year quarterback is in his first year of training camp as the starting quarterback, and there have been good days and bad days.
All that is expected when you’re a young quarterback with one career start facing one of the NFL’s best defenses daily in practice.
What are reasonable expectations for Howell? Remember, he’s also learning a new offense under new offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. Yet, if Howell can give Washington more than it had from the quarterback position one year ago — which shouldn’t be too difficult — the entire team will be improved.
Chris Trapasso, an NFL draft analyst for CBS Sports, recently named five players to his “Out of Nowhere” breakout team for 2023. Howell was on the list.
Howell’s backstory qualifies him for the “Out of Nowhere” team. Once widely regarded as a future first-round pick — heck, in some circles, he was bound to be the first pick in the 2022 NFL Draft — a relatively down final campaign at North Carolina precipitated a plummet all the way to the fifth round of his respective draft.
Howell was the sixth quarterback picked last year, and he stayed in the shadows during his rookie campaign in Washington until the final regular-season contest. While far from a Mahomesian rookie year audition, Howell averaged nearly nine yards per completion in the win over the Cowboys at home in his only Year 1 action.
He’s also an “Out of Nowhere” selection because of those natural gifts that were integral to the early draft buzz. Howell has a strong, live arm and plays with a propensity to push it downfield. He gets Eric Bieniemy as his offensive coordinator for his second professional season, and Terry McLaurin is, to me, a superstar wideout in terms of his individual, well-polished game. Expectations aren’t high for Howell, so he very well could sneak up on most of his competition, particularly early. Howell isn’t a freaky athletic talent but did run for more than 800 yards with 11 ground-game scores in 2021 for the Tar Heels. Beyond McLaurin, the Commanders aren’t bursting with pass-game talent, yet second-year, former first-round pick Jahan Dotson is worth monitoring as the club’s secondary receiver.
Do I think Howell has an enormous ascension up quarterback rankings, jumping many established, high-profile names in the process? No. But he is positioned for a Year 2 breakout that will leave no questions about who the future starter is in Washington, and that franchise hasn’t had any prolonged stability at that position since the Robert Griffin III/Kirk Cousins days a decade ago.
Some fair analysis from Trapasso, but this sticks out: “He is positioned for a Year 2 breakout that will leave no questions about who the future starter is in Washington.”
This is all Commanders’ fans want. With a new owner, a QB of the future, times would definitely be changing in Washington.
