Matt Miller compared Sam Howell to Colt McCoy, Mike Clay ranked the Commanders’ QB room 32nd out of 32 teams, and Peter King is down on Washington football in his latest NFL power rankings.
So, there’s one thing Grant & Danny want to know after reading Clay’s rankings: why is the national media so down on the Commanders’ signal callers?
“You have to go past a bunch of rookies, you have to go past unproven starters in Jordan Love and Desmond Ridder, and proven to be terrible Baker Mayfield, and then once you have a little carpal tunnel in your wrist, there’s the Commanders dead last at No. 32,” Danny said. “An unkind evaluation to say the least.”
“I’m going to try not to do the thing I hate and get upset about a list put together by someone who doesn’t follow a team full-time,” Grant replied, “but you cannot explain to me how it’s possible to say that going into the season, you’d rather have some of those QB rooms instead of Washington’s.”
Grant understands that a lot of it is predicated on Sam Howell, who is an unproven fifth-round pick with one (basically meaningless) game of NFL experience under his belt – but how can the Commanders be dead last when both of their backups have at least that much playing time?
“Forget Sam Howell, but correct me if I’m wrong: Jacoby Brissett played well for the Browns last year, at a level that would make you think this guy could start games in the NFL in 2023,” Grant said. “Because he’s a career backup and he’s played for some bad organizations, you get typecast as a backup, and I have made the case that any starts he makes while Howell is healthy this year will be malpractice, because we know his ceiling as a low-end starter/high-end backup…but that’s a good backup!”
Because the rankings are the whole room, and not just the starter, Grant thinks there’s no way the collective is the worst in the NFL.
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“I’ll take Brissett over a lot of backups on this list,” Grant said. “Tampa Bay is right ahead of them – Kyle Trask has never played before and they have no third listed behind Baker Mayfield, and that’s a better room than Washington’s? If you’re coaching for your career this season, you’d rather have Mayfeld and Trask than Washington’s group? That’s ridiculous!”
Danny agrees, and thinks “this is just wrong.”
“Last year, when we did this, and Carson Wentz was ranked really low, the point I made was that I didn’t think Wentz was as bad as they think, and that turned out wrong,” Danny said. “This year, the vibe here on Howell is that he hasn’t stunk yet, but on the outside looking in, people think, ‘really, you’re going with the fifth-rounder and Journeyman Jacoby?’”
Danny feels the same way as Chris Russell did earlier in the day, saying he’d take the Commanders over a few teams, but they’re still likely a bottom five group altogether – and that’s what the big picture reflects when it comes to the Commanders as a whole.
Grant is okay with that, but with a caveat:
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“Being in the bottom tier doesn’t bother me, but here’s my question to Mike Clay: what is the realistic floor, the worst-case scenario, for Sam Howell this year?” Grant asked. “What does it look like if he’s bad? He’s more talented, according to every person I trust evaluating quarterbacks, than Taylor Heinicke is, and Taylor Heinicke, who had very little in the way of physical tools, threw for 33 touchdowns in two seasons. If Howell is better than him physically, it is a very reasonable expectation to assume Howell’s floor should be what Heinicke has given them. Part of why he was successful is because this is a decent situation for a quarterback – good defense, low-scoring games, good weapons around you – and last year they were a .500-ish team. It wasn’t fun to watch, but they were.”
Grant doesn’t get the fear, because his worst-case scenario is “Taylor Heinicke walks back in the door,” so Danny stepped in with the thought of not knowing the schedule, but knowing the opponents, maybe hurts.
“Eagles and Giants, good defenses, and the Cowboys will turn you over some. San Francisco, Buffalo, Patriots, Jets…you add up some of those totals, and the way it could be worse than Heinicke is in turnovers,” Danny said. “You may not get the high-end production and end up with double-digit turnovers, and it’s not particularly good. If they play the way I’d like them to play, you won’t get that 16 points a week nonsense, but the thing I worry about is the back-breaking bad moments.”
And as Grant noted, Heinicke was dead last among QBs with at least 100 attempts last year…so maybe, at least, it couldn’t get worse?
"It's possible the Heinicke horseshoe leaves with him, but last year, he led the league in turnover-worthy play percentage - and the next three guys on that list all got benched," Grant said. "Everything Sam Howell has, and does, is better than Heinicke, so it's not hard to convince me he's going to be better."
Follow Grant & Danny on Twitter: @granthpaulsen & @funnydanny
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