It has finally happened: Ron Rivera has officially named Sam Howell the starting quarterback for the Washington Commanders.
"We talked about wanting to see the growth and improvement throughout OTAs and minicamp, and talked about going into training camp and continuing to grow, and show us what he's capable of," Rivera said Friday morning in making the announcement. "We've been very pleased with it, to the point where I decided yesterday that we were going to name him the starter going into the regular season."
Howell will start and get some time in Monday's second preseason game with the Ravens, and Rivera said that when it came to the decision, his discussions with offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard saw "everyone on board as for what this means for the franchise having a young quarterback."
And no, Rivera revealed, it wasn't so much a competition between Howell and Jacoby Brissett as it was Howell having it in his hands with Brissett as the backup plan.
"Jacoby has been a good teammate throughout this process," the coach said. "From my perspective, it was Sam's to lose. He did the things he needed to do and showed the growth we needed, so I didn't have any doubt."
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