In announcing that Sam Howell was benched for the Washington Commanders Week 17 game against the San Francisco 49ers, head coach Ron Rivera said the move would be a part of the second-year quarterback's development.
"This is about Sam’s continued development," Rivera said. "And things haven’t gone as well as we’d have liked the last few weeks, so we just think this is a good opportunity for him to watch.”
He continued: “This is part of the growth; this is not an indictment on Sam" and that Jacoby Brissett "being the professional he is and playing the way he has, is going to give Sam an opportunity to see some things with the offense.”
And for Craig Hoffman – continued giving his thoughts on this organizational failure – with this is a point worth remembering because "Sam Howell's career is not over" because of this benching.
"Right now it feels as over as over can be, like he just got benched. That's them saying 'He's not the guy!' Sure, sure," Hoffman said. "Here's a couple things that I would tell you: One, them saying anything means bupkis, squadoosh, nada, zilch, zippy, zero. Why? Because 'thems' not gonna be here.
"And I could 100 percent see Ben Johnson, Frank Smith, Bobby Slowik, one of these offensive coaches who have played with quarterbacks on the up – not the elites, not the Patrick Mahomes of the world – watching the game tape, seeing Sam Howell do the high-level stuff he did earlier in the year, watching him deteriorate, watching the game plan, watching how often he was dropped back, watching some of the offensive line play, watching some of the mental mistakes the offensive line has made, watching how undetailed some of the stuff here has been and simply going, 'This is ridiculous, I cannot believe they tried to play offense this way. This kid has something, and I know how to get it out of him.'"
Hoffman added: "The point is, if you get somebody who believes in scheming things up for a quarterback and they come in and 'They're like, look I don't really like [draft prospect Jayden Daniels], I don't really like JJ McCarthy, I don't like [Michael Penix Jr.], I don't really like [Bo Nix], I don't like any of these quarterbacks any more than I like what Howell's already done.
"'I've had a conversation with the kid, he's not cooked, he's fine, he just needed to take a deep breath and a step back. I know how to actually insulate him, I know how to incubate him, and by the way I'm gonna get way better talent around him because I'm gonna take Marvin Harrison Jr. and get him the big X receiver that he needs. Or I'm gonna take Ola Fashanu and give him a stud left tackle and we're gonna spend 50 [million] of our $80 million on offensive linemen and our offensive line's gonna be sick next year.'"
Overall, Hoffman said that. "Yeah, I could see that Sam could be the guy here" or he could be on the Baker Mayfield track of being traded before finding his footing and the right spot in this league.
On the benching, "sometimes playing a little bit, taking a step back, getting to watch some tape, getting to watch someone else do it, especially a veteran... and it can be beneficial."
This isn't an ideal situation for Howell, but, Hoffman added, this is a moment for Howell "to be pulled out of a spiral" and that "he's not cooked forever becuse of this" benching.
Having said all that, Hoffman did admit that he is "not saying I would bet on him being successful, because I've obviously seen how the last few weeks have gone, and I think that there are some concerning flaws in his game, I'm not going to absolve him of all fault here."
Listen to Hoffman's full explanation on the audio player above!
