Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera made it clear early this offseason that Sam Howell would have every opportunity to be the starting quarterback.
While Rivera made numerous references to Howell as the “QB1,” he never actually said, “Sam is our starting quarterback for Week 1.”
Washington made a significant one-year investment in Jacoby Brissett in free agency. Brissett had started for multiple teams and played well as Cleveland’s starter last season before Deshaun Watson returned from suspension. Brissett actually outplayed Watson last season.
But when a Washington offensive player speaks, he says all the right things about Howell. That’s not meant to disrespect Brissett, but that everyone presumes the quarterback will be Howell.
After OTAs and the minicamp, Rivera praised both quarterbacks, insisting this remained an open competition but that Howell did do enough to enter training camp as “QB1.”
Does this remain a competition?
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated recently said that he believed Howell held a “significant” lead over Brissett for the starting job.
Is this a case of Howell outperforming Brissett so far, or the Commanders wanting Howell to show them enough to justify starting the second-year signal caller?
Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report recently named eight decisions left to make ahead of training camp and posed the following question for the Commanders:
“Will the Washington Commanders have an open, honest QB competition?”
Here’s a portion of Knox’s assessment of the Commanders:
Washington’s decision will say a lot about the franchise’s goals in 2023. This is a team that went .500 last season despite average (84.7 cumulative QB rating) quarterback play. If the Commanders plan to compete in the NFC East, and not just play for the future, they need to put the best quarterback on the field.
Howell may be that quarterback, but Washington can’t get an accurate read on the situation if he never gets any run with the starters.
Let’s be clear if Howell can play close to how he did in the season finale against the Dallas Cowboys; it’s an upgrade over much of what the Commanders received in the first 16 games from Carson Wentz and Taylor Heinicke. And this team essentially had a playoff spot locked up until a late-season collapse due, in part, to less-than-stellar QB play.
Heinicke played well at times last season, However, his physical limitations are always magnified the longer he plays. He’s an excellent backup quarterback, but Howell possesses some of the same moxie as Heinicke but is bigger and has a much better arm.
Washington’s view on Howell is likely the same as it was in February. The Commanders want him to earn the job. They understand as a second-year quarterback, there will be growing pains, but hope by building the team around him, his skill set gives them something they haven’t had under center since Rivera took over as head coach in 2020.
Is that a competition? Yes and no. If Howell goes out in camp and looks overmatched, Brissett will start Week 1. If things continue as they did throughout the offseason, it’s Howell’s job to lose.
