On a discussion about whether people are sleeping on the Commanders, JP Finlay wondered when the last time was that the Commanders started well, and it was when they were 5-2 and then 6-2 in the Alex Smith/Jay Gruden era.
Well, in reading responses to that conversation, someone said that if you replaced Sam Howell with a better quarterback, this roster is set up for success, and a few others had questions about Howell – and that’s when JP finally snapped (as much as he does) and chided the people who think on the other side that Howell could’ve/would’ve/should’ve been a higher pick.
“I am intrigues to watch Sam Howell play – he’s smart, he works hard, and he’s a heck of an athlete, and he has a lot of the things you want in a young QB. But can we please have a moment of honesty? We know what this team has done to you…but can we stop lying to ourselves? Howell IS a fifth-round pick,” JP began.
After taking a deep breath, JP went into his rant on a Bleep U Thursday:
“San Howell is a fifth-round pick; it’s not COVID or the draft or whatever – he is a fifth-round picj. He might be great, and being a fifth-rounder doesn’t change that. Yes, he was highly touted the year prior, but he stayed in school, because he had to – and when he came out, he was a fifth-rounder,” JP said. “He could be great, he could be Joe Theismann, but we have to stop lying to ourselves and saying he was a first-rounder – he wasn’t.”
JP then recalled a scene in “The Social Network” where the Winkelvoss twins try to sue Mark Zuckerberg for the idea of Facebook, and Zuck says, ‘if you were going to build Facebook, you would’ve built Facebook” – and that’s an allegory for Howell and his draft status.
“I say that because if Sam Howell was a first-rounder, he would’ve gone in the first round,” JP said. “It doesn’t change what he can be, or the opportunity he has, or what his receivers can do for him – none of that changes, but it also doesn’t change that you signed a center who has started 10 games in two years, and you’re trying a pair of Saturday draft picks at left guard. Howell has the opportunity of a lifetime, and he’d have the same opportunity no matter where he was drafted – but the truth we all have to accept is what could’ve, should’ve, or would’ve been…he was a fifth-rounder. There’s no other conversation here.”
Kirk Cousins was a fourth-rounder, as JP reminded, and while he wouldn’t invoke Tom Brady, he did contrast how Cousins eventually usurped Top 5 pick Robert Griffin III, and named a bunch of mid-round picks that went to Super Bowls and championship games…so maybe the sky is the limit.
Listen to the whole rant in the clips above!
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