Brad Johsnon, the former Super Bowl winning quarterback and one-time starter here in Washington, has watched the current starting quarterback in the District, Sam Howell, since he was playing in high school, he told Kevin Sheehan this week.
"It's fun to watch him play," Johnson said of the Commanders' starter who he called a "straight-up baller" during his time at North Carolina. "... He had that one clunker – the Buffalo game – it was just a clunker, you know, that and the Chicago game. If you scrub those games, he's the right guy, he really is. The two Philadelphia games – right now that division, the East, it runs through Philadelphia it runs through Dallas until you can overcome it.
"But I love Sam's demeanor, what he brings to the table. And it's just fun watching him give them some consistency and some hope. I like the projection of this team."
Johnson said that over the upcoming tough stretch of games, fans will find out more about who Howell is and who this team can become.
On the sack and interception issue, the former NFL quarterback said those issues are a collective issue and it is hard to diagnose who really is at fault from the outside. But Howell's ability to bounce back and the resiliency he has shown is an encouraging sign.
"But to have a quarterback that can stand in the pocket and take that [hit] and to deal with adversity, especially in the second year of his career first year of actually playing, it's impressive to find out who the kid is," Johnson said of Howell. "He's got grit, he's tough, he's smart, you know what you got every day with the guy. And hopefully, he gets to play these [seven] games out and keep improving as this thing takes place."
Johnson also spoke about his experience working with Eric Bieniemy in Minnesota during his career before going into a look around the NFL. Listen to the full conversation from The Kevin Sheehan Show on the audio player above!