Ben Standig is one of our go-to guys around here for all things Commanders, and so GP dialed him up on the BetQL guest hotline not long after news broke that Sam Howell was heading to Seattle – which was REALLY bad timing for the Commanders’ beat.
“The timing wasn't great, nor has it been for almost any of their moves – we were literally in a Zoom with one of the players at the moment,” Standig said. “I think I was actually asking him a question when my phone did something, and I looked and saw it, and then I realized that others had also turned their camera off at least and gone from there because obviously this is pretty seismic news.”
Seismic, but not a surprise.
“I’m not surprised; even before they had signed Mariota, my whole thought was if you're gonna draft this quarterback at No. 2, you need to do whatever you can to maximize that situation,” Standig said. “That includes having some sort of a veteran mentor in the room, or maybe even having a veteran that the coaching staff would feel comfortable with using early in the season if the kid isn't ready. Sam Howell is interesting, he has potential – at a minimum he looks like a higher-end QB2 in this league and maybe more – but a mentor, he is not. Having him there with a rookie, I'm not saying it would be like overly confusing, but it could be potentially a little awkward.”
And another word: no-brainer.
“The fact that they were able to get an actual third round pick for this, and sort of the overall value of the trades was like a net high-third, for them, kind of makes it almost a no-brainer,” Standig said. “I know there was a lot of discussion about what his value was in a trade market, and I reported a week ago that two executives in the league thought a fourth-round pick was plausible. This is basically that, and all things being equal, it's always a risk to trade a young quarterback with promise, but when you're about to get a young QB with promise and you have so many needs, I think it was kind of a no-brainer.”
GP thinks the compensation is ‘incredible,’ but ‘having a real GM is just so different.’ And, different having real players, too.
“You were on my podcast yesterday and one of the things we discussed on the football side of things is a guy like Frankie Luvu, how Dan Quinn is going to use him is gonna be so fascinating, not just because Luvu is a versatile player you can use in a lot of spots, but because that’s Dan Quinn's move,” Standig said. “He wants to have guys that can be used all over the place, and Washington last year, primarily, was fairly conventional. There wasn't a lot of movement around the defense and that's kind of how it went, and I feel like the same thing with the front office with the moves they made. Now, it’s easy to say you should trade Sam Howell, but it’s still a gutsy move, because he's got potential and there's a lot to like about him. But, when you have the No. 2 pick in the draft, it pales in comparison to that, and ultimately, I think that’s what did him in.”
And in closing, Ben had an EPIC line for those who think this deal now makes it easier, in theory, for the Commanders to go up to No. 1 for Caleb Williams.
“If I get a raise to work, it makes me, it makes it easier for me to go buy a Porsche, but it doesn't really mean I can still afford it or somebody wants to sell it to me,” Standig said. “At the combine, I felt pretty locked in that the Bears were good with Caleb Williams. We’ll see, but I just don't know if I see the Bears trading – and I don’t know what Peters and company think of Williams versus everyone else, but the gap would have to be pretty significant for them, knowing all they need to fix with this roster, to trade away picks when you can get a quarterback who many believe to be a really good prospect at No. 2.”