The Washington Commanders brain trust decided to develop Sam Howell in an unconventional way this season, Kevin Sheehan said, by throwing him into the fire and throwing the ball more than anybody else. The results have not been good and Howell – after he was removed in the second half in back-to-back games – was benched by Ron Rivera for Jacoby Brissett for the Week 17 game against the San Francisco 49ers this Sunday.
And all of that is a rational argument as to why Howell working in a different scheme might work.
But, Sheehan said, the Commanders "gotta swing" for a quarterback in this draft. (They are on track to have the No. 3 pick with two games remaining.)
"They haven't taken enough swings. They haven't!" Sheehan continued. "In the draft, in trades, in free agency. Really the single biggest swing they've taken – since RG3 – was probably the Alex Smith trade. That was a big swing because it also came with serious compensation and then a brand new hefty contract increase. They didn't land Matt Stafford, they took a big swing but they didn't land him. They took a big swing for Russell Wilson, and maybe a good thing that they didn't land on him. Dwayne Haskins wasn't a Top 3 or Top 4 pick, he was 15 overall. Ryan Fitzpatrick's not a big swing, Carson Wentz isn't a big swing.
"I've heard a lot of you say, 'You just keep talking about quarterback every year.' Well, yeah, I'm gonna keep talking about quarterback until they actually have one. When you get to the end of the season and you're unsure as to whether or not you have one, you don't have one. They don't have one again! They haven't had one since – you know who was here in 2015 to 2017. And they've been looking for one ever since. You have to keep trying."
And rarely do you get the chance to be bad enough to get a top pick in a year. when the quarterback class is rich at the top, he added. That is lining up for Washington this year.
Listen to the full take on the audio player above!
