Commanders QB Sam Howell wants to prove hes more than a short-term solution
The memory from four years ago was fresh in Mack Brown’s mind as North Carolina prepared for its season opener against South Carolina.
“How could a freshman quarterback come in and beat South Carolina and Miami back-to-back in his first two games ever?” he asked, thinking back to the start of the Tar Heels’ 2019 season.
Sam Howell had decommitted from Florida State to join Brown’s program in Chapel Hill and won the starting job. What Brown and his staff knew of Howell at the time was what he’d shown on film at Sun Valley High in Monroe, N.C., and during the spring season at North Carolina — hardly enough to guarantee a smooth start.
“We had absolutely no idea how he’d respond,” Brown said. “That just tells you who he is.”
Howell guided the Tar Heels to consecutive fourth-quarter comeback victories, showing rare poise and resilience for a teenage quarterback. He has displayed those same traits with the Commanders, who named him their starting quarterback after he had started just one NFL game.
Advertisement
Similar to North Carolina’s opener back in 2019, Howell will begin his tenure as the Commanders’ starter in a pressure cooker: in front of a sellout crowd at FedEx Field on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, playing for a franchise under new ownership and with a new offense and new play caller.
“I think the higher I get in my football career, you keep getting more pressure,” Howell said. “You got to keep finding ways to keep the noise out and focus on what’s really important. I think I’ve done a good job of that, of keeping the main thing the main thing.”
Throughout training camp and the preseason, Coach Ron Rivera and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy praised Howell’s study habits and his even-keeled demeanor at the line of scrimmage. When plays broke down, he didn’t seem rattled. He just got creative.
Advertisement
“He has the athleticism to get out [of] the pocket to find the guy down the field or to scramble for a first down to make it happen,” General Manager Martin Mayhew said. “You saw that during the preseason, and a lot hasn’t been talked about that, but he’s really athletic.”
When fights broke out at joint practices with the Baltimore Ravens, Howell kept his cool and refocused the offense.
“He’s very direct to certain guys,” Rivera said. “... When he gets into the huddle, though, there is a calmness about him.”
And when he made mistakes, he usually didn’t make them twice.
“I take that stuff seriously,” Howell said. “I tell [quarterbacks coach] Tavita [Pritchard] that I want to be coached hard and if he has something to say, say it. I want to know your opinion, I want your feedback so I can apply it.”
Advertisement
Bieniemy calls it “auto-correction.” Howell typically knows what he did wrong immediately after doing it, so he’s able to quickly nip the problem instead of letting it linger.
He has been like that for years, according to his father, Duke Howell.
Duke, who was recently named the head coach at Cuthbertson High near Charlotte, was his son’s offensive coordinator at Sun Valley and has coached him since he started playing football.
“Sam’s the type of guy that when you coach him, he wants answers,” Duke said. “He would always watch a lot of film to get the questions to say, ‘Here’s the problem: What are we doing here, and what are we doing here?’ He’s always been that way. When Sam would ask questions, even in high school, you’d be like, ‘I hope I have the right answers for him.’ ”
During the coronavirus pandemic, Howell had extra Zoom calls with North Carolina’s offensive coordinator, Phil Longo, to enhance his knowledge of the game — be it defensive coverages, protections or the potential success of a run play in certain situations.
Advertisement
Brown joked that Howell would often spend more time than he did at the Tar Heels’ football offices, watching video of not just his team and upcoming opponents but also of NFL quarterbacks.
“He wasn’t a guy that was going to go out,” Brown said. “In fact, on Valentine’s Day, I asked him if he got a date, and he said, ‘Yeah, with Madden.’ ”
During the spring, shortly after Bieniemy was hired as the Commanders’ coordinator, Howell turned on Kansas City Chiefs video and went to work with his personal quarterbacks coach.
“He takes work home, and he loves to talk through all the little detailed nuances of the game,” Bieniemy said.
Cornerback Kendall Fuller, who has watched the franchise cycle through quarterbacks annually, learned a bit about Howell a couple weeks into training camp.
“He made an out route on me; that [ticks] me off,” Fuller said in August. “But just to see him be able to put those throws in spots [where] DBs can’t get it — I think the good NFL quarterbacks, that’s what separates [them].”
Advertisement
Howell has said his second season in the NFL has been nothing like his first.
“Last year … you’re just trying to get adjusted to everything,” he said. “You got a new lifestyle, living in a new city, a new team and a new offense and having so much more plays and a lot more on my plate than what I was used to. Everything just kind of seems so fast. I feel like I kept getting better every single week. And then now coming into this year, I feel like I came in with so much more confidence.”
Bieniemy’s system is, in many ways, tailored to fit Howell’s skill set, with his mobility, strong arm and affinity for run-pass options — concepts he ran often at North Carolina. The play calls are wordy but can be quarterback-friendly because they essentially include assignments for every play on offense.
When the plays break down, Howell’s ability to create shines.
Advertisement
“I love the skill talent that we have around me,” Howell said. “I think it’s one of the best groups in the NFL, and I think what E.B. does a really good job of is knowing how to use those guys and put those guys in a position to be successful. In Kansas City, they had a lot of really talented players, and obviously they had Pat [Mahomes], who is doing such a good job. But the skill players, E.B. was putting them in a good position and then allowing them to use their talent, and I think we’re going to try to do the same thing here.”
Howell’s mental approach to the game and his development over the past five months have given the Commanders hope that he may have the potential to become even more than just the starter for now. Since 2000, Washington has had 27 starting quarterbacks, and only two — Jason Campbell and Kirk Cousins — started full, consecutive seasons for the team.
Rarely does a quarterback taken in the latter rounds of the draft emerge as a long-term starter — although a few have for Washington. Many analysts projected Howell to go in the early rounds of the 2022 NFL draft, but he fell to the fifth. But when looking to the future, Rivera has pondered if Howell could develop into a player like Brock Purdy, the last pick in the 2022 draft who became the San Francisco 49ers’ starter in the middle of last season.
Advertisement
“You would like to think that we have a guy that has the same type of ability and skill set,” Rivera said in March.
Howell has operated with a narrower lens. Before games he feels pangs of excitement — “I’ll always have nerves,” he said — but he filters the noise.
“There’s not many guys that are drafted where I’m at, play only one game and get this opportunity,” Howell said. “I’m super grateful for everyone here that’s believed in me. Now it’s up to me to go out there and prove them right.”
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZMCxu9GtqmhqYGeAcHyYaGdwZ6OWum60zrCcpaRf