With the Bobby Wagner signing and then the Sam Howell trade, it’s a net-zero exchange between Washington and Seattle this week – so Grant Paulsen brought in Seahawks reporter Corbin Smith to discuss both moves, the latter one he had an idea of earlier Thursday.
“This is not a trade that surprises me; I'm not one to toot my own horn, but I literally after the Desmond Ridder trade this morning was floating the idea that I could very easily see Seattle trade for Sam Howell, and about an hour later it happened,” Smith said.
Different trade value metrics say Washington basically got anywhere from a late-third to a late-seventh in value in the deal – but what really matters, at least on this side, is what Adam Peters can do in the two spots where he moved up significantly.
“I assumed that it was probably gonna be an early Day 3 selection and maybe a late Day 3 selection to get him, just because I felt like the Commanders are not in a position where they have a ton of leverage in that regard,” Smith said, “Maybe a third-round selection, so this ended up being about what I was anticipating, just in a different structure with it being a pick swap.”
From Seattle's perspective, the drop from 79 to 102 is mitigated by the fact that they got a guy they’ve apparently wanted for two years.
“For John Schneider, it was well worth it for a quarterback who, and this is the words I heard from a team source at the combine two years ago, was smitten by,” Smith said. “He has liked him since he was at North Carolina, so he has been on the radar. I'm not surprised at all this move was made. Geno Smith has two years left in his contract, but next year, they're gonna be able to have an easy out if they feel like Sam Howell is the guy. And if not, this is not gonna deter them from drafting a quarterback. They get two years of roster control with a super cheap contract to be able to evaluate this kid, and one of his best games last year was against the Seahawks in Seattle. So I think the Seahawks are looking at this like this kid's got the traits, there are things we can improve upon, and this is the best value for him.”
And it appears the Seahawks have a little higher take on Howell than the prevailing “high-end QB2” consensus around here.
“I believe they think that he can be a high-level starter. That's the vibe that I've got at the combine a couple of years ago,” Smith said. “But the reason that John Schneider did not draft him, I was told they were considering him as early as the third round, was because Drew had just come over in the Russell Wilson trade and he was only 25 years old. So, Schneider publicly said this is a guy that we think would have been one of the first quarterbacks off the board early in the first round if he was in this year's draft. I think that they viewed it as we kind of had a pseudo-draft pick at the quarterback position anyway, and this is before Geno Smith beat him out for the starting job. But he was certainly high on their draft board, and this is a guy that has a lot of traits that John Schneider likes. The Seahawks have nothing to lose here, and they're gonna roll the dice and see if this guy maybe can compete with Geno Smith.”
Take a listen above for more from Corbin on the deal, as well as his thoughts on the Wagner move!