BMitch & Finlay wondered, as they do on Mondays, where Sam Howell ranks right now among NFL QBs – and after some thought, and some calls, they came to the wonder if now, with Hurts hurt, Danny Dimes done, and Dak deflated, Sam is the best QB in the NFC East?
Maybe, and maybe that’s a stretch, but how do YOU feel about Howell? Because Brian and JP are riding high.
“The reduction of sacks is of massive importance to me on a number of ways, right? If you got a guy getting beat up all that often, the durability is gonna be a real problem,” JP said. “The best ability is availability, and you want a guy that will be on the field - and if you're taking sacks at that outrageous of a rate, odds are against it. That’s one, and two, sacks are drive killers; they kill offensive efficiency and output, and when you have those happening at a historic rate, it’s hard to look past some of the other stuff – but the last two games that's really changed.”
“He’s been better the last two games, and everybody wants to say they're getting the ball his hands quicker – he’s making the decision to get the ball out of his hands quicker,” BMitch replied. “I felt when he was taking a lot of sacks, a lot of them were on him and he was holding on to the ball, looking at the rush – now, over the last two weeks, he is making decisions quicker, getting the ball out of his hands. He's being more decisive instead of being a little hesitant.”
That’s good, because Brian always felt Sam Howell could control that, and he is.
“He could’ve lowered his sacks quickly, but he hadn't hit that point yet,” Brian said. “Now, maybe he’s at the point where he’s reading and picking up things a lot quicker and letting it go, because even when he decides to run, it's instant, it's not hesitating. So, as he goes forward, we want to understand, you know, guys get hit when they throw the ball sometimes, so if he gets hit a couple of times, if he throws it and he gets hit and he don't take the sack, the narrative is less as well.”
So, if Howell continues to progress to the point where he’s undoubtedly the franchise QB, the Commanders don’t have to commit to him long-term until the end of next season at the earliest…when they have a ton of cap space and a lot of draft picks.
Does Washington become a destination at that point?
“We can look at his percentages and all this stuff as to what he's done, but what he has to do is play the last eight games far better than the first nine, and then you’re in a position where you can go and make a lot of moves next year to put him behind a much better-equipped team,” Brian said. “He’s had 10 games now, so this is where you start to lift off, and that’s what he has to start showing. If that’s shown, they may think they just have to add some more pieces.”
“This is where you could have an advantage to try to get a deal done like they could have done with Kirk, there are other people who could have done this and they didn't,” JP replied. “Not to mention right now they'd have the 13th pick, and the Bears’ pick in Round 2 is gonna be 34. You start looking at where you would maybe want to spend money next year and I'm not sure you'd want to, but they have opportunities.”
Take a listen to Brian and JP’s entire conversations – and callers’ rebuttals – on Sam Howell in the three clips above and below!
