You may remember just about every host on both of our radio stations debating Mike Clay’s rankings earlier this month that put the Commanders’ QB room dead last among the 32 NFL teams, and how much controversy that brought.
Well, Chris Simms has done us one better: in his annual QB rankings, Simms, himself of course a former signal-caller, ranked 40 NFL quarterbacks…and put Sam Howell at No. 39, ahead of only Atlanta’s Desmond Ridder – whose Falcons were the source of much of that consternation about Clay’s rankings because that’s where Taylor Heinicke is now.
There are only 32 teams, meaning Simms believes seven BACKUPS are better than Sam Howell (and Ridder); with only the bottom 10 out, that group so far includes Heinicke (37), whichever of Anthony Richardson or Gardner Minshew (36 and 34) doesn’t start in Indianapolis, Miami’s Mike White (35), and Denver’s Jarrett Stidham (32).
Here’s part of what Simms had to say about Howell on his “Unbuttoned” podcast, at least regarding why he wasn’t dead last:
“There are things about his play and physical ability I feel are better than Desmond Ridder. Sam Howell is a natural in the pocket, and if you watch the Dallas game, he didn’t play all year, but he slides the right way and was an aggressive decision maker. I think he’s a better thrower than Desmond Ridder and has a little better feel overall. There are some mechanical things I wish he was better at, but he can get a completion out of an awkward position, and he’s an underrated athlete.”
There are some (sup Danny) who think Jacoby Brissett will end up playing more often or even being the Week 1 starter…but Howell at 39?
“Reminder: there are 32 starters, of which I would say there are 26 guys who are starting caliber and then a few other guys who are starting, so there are roughly a dozen guys who are better as a QB2 ahead of Howell,” Grant said, to which Danny joked: “Ridder was 40, and I think so glowingly of Sam Howell that I have him all the way down at 39!”
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Grant is not necessarily a list-watcher and dissector, but he gives Simms ‘a little more credence and credibility’ based on his pedigree – and in this case, that ranking is a sobering reminder just how little we know, and how little we can trust, Howell.
“Rather than debating if it’s true or if he’s better than the guy at 37, my takeaway is that we have not stopped as a group yet and said, ‘what happens if this goes terribly with him?’” Grant asked. “I don’t think he will, because I think he’s better than Heinicke, so I expect him to be solid or maybe even league-average – but most people do feel that way, it sees, and because we do, we’re not asking if there’s a chance we never should have crowned this guy. If he had not played in Week 18, there’s no way he’s the starter right now – and if he was, there’s no way we’d be blindly going along with it.”
Indeed, Danny agrees, there may be something to this.
“There’s a time-honored tradition in places where there aren’t franchise quarterbacks; when someone plays well in the preseason, we decide that because they haven’t stunk yet, we think the world of them,” Danny said. “Bigger samples usually aren’t kind to guys who can’t do it at a high level, because warts get exposed. The geniuses figure out what you can’t do well and make you do that. We have labels on guys like Colt McCoy and Case Keenum and that tier; when they’re new and fresh and exciting, we fill ourselves with hope, overestimate how good they will be, and take a small sample and declare they’ve arrived – but we need years to really know that.”
Danny admits he likes Howell and he ‘looked pretty good in what was basically a September call-up game,’ but that ‘doesn’t equate to naming him the starter 45 minutes after the final gun on the season,’ and reiterated his previous thoughts on how that was a deflection from how poorly the Carson Wentz situation was.
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“I like Sam Howell and don’t agree he’s 39th, but that’s not the point – the point is, we’ve decided that he is it, before it has even happened,” Danny said. “There’s not a pedigree, and we’ve talked ourselves into things that haven’t happened yet, and this Chris Simms take is cold water on our momentum.”
“I think the player is way more talented than that ranking, but I’m not here to quibble about that ranking – my point is that we look ahead to the season and say Howell is an upgrade and we move on, and we’re not spending enough time on him,” Grant replied. “I think a lot of that has to do with us having eyes on a different ball with ownership, but normally, the biggest story in town is quarterback, and it seems like right now, this is the closest thing we’ve had to a consensus in a while is that everyone is excited about Sam Howell…but it’s excitement because he’s an unknown.”
Follow Grant & Danny on Twitter: @granthpaulsen & @funnydanny
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