The Ringer put together a list ranking 34 NFL quarterbacks, adding the injured Kyler Murray and the never-say-never Tom Brady to the 32 projected to start this weekend. And on that list, Sam Howell ranked…33rd, with a quick synopsis of “did we really need another Baker Mayfield?”
Sadly, both Jeff 2 Funny and Landphill, as well as Brian Mitchell, had Howell pegged in the bottom chunk of those rankings, but no one had him better than only one (which, in this list, is the guy he’s gonna face on Sunday, Arizona’s Joshua Dobbs).
“This is not some random $15 an hour blogger writing this, Steven Ruiz has a legitimate resume,” JP Finlay said, but BMitch doesn’t believe that ‘if he saw this preseason, he could truly put Howell 33rd.’
JP read the write-up of Howell, but he thinks Howell made significant improvements in pocket presence (the biggest weakness on the write-up), and harkened back to last year to prove it.
“If you saw the film of preseason Game 3 last year and that’s it, you’d think he could never play in the pros, because he dropped his eyes and immediately looked to run, and wouldn’t let the offense develop. That was true,” JP said. “But, even by Week 18 against the Cowboys, you saw improvement, and you’ve seen more since then. Will that translate as the season goes on and defenses are game-planning for him?”
“I hope so and I think it will, because you see he’s gotten better at it,” BMitch replied. “He doesn’t really stack up bad plays. But, what Ruiz says is what most typical people who write about NFL players say: if they don’t do things in a traditional manner, most people can’t judge them – but what makes Sam good outside the pocket is the ability to be able to do it, and instinctively do it.”
Now, that said, BMitch doesn’t want it to be the first option after his main read is shut down.
“I would never try to stop him from doing it, but try to make it the last resort,” Brian said. “Don’t sit up here and automatically go for that, but if you can scramble, you put extra pressure on the defense, so focus on that: sit in the pocket and run when you need to. Don’t just sit in the pocket and wait all day because some writer said so; coaches seem to be happy with what he’s doing, and with all the football knowledge they have on that staff, they all aren’t stupid.”
“I can comprehend a lot of the stuff surrounding Sam because he’s so unknown, and there are questions about pocket presence,” JP said, “and I want to be more mad about him ranking 33rd, but you know who is 32nd? Brock Purdy, who went to the NFC Championship Game last year.”
Listen to the whole conversation above!
