The Seahawks got a talented young quarterback in Sam Howell, who has plus arm power and guts to go for it at any given moment. Howell shares those traits with the player he will be replacing on Seattle’s roster, taking over for Drew Lock as Geno Smith’s primary backup.
General manager John Schneider says he loves the way that Howell plays. However, there are also some flaws in his game. Like many big-armed young QBs Howell has had issues with ball security. Last season he threw 21 interceptions to go with his 21 touchdowns. He also took far too many sacks, leading the league with 65 in 2023.
If Howell gets another chance to start, he says that he’s going to play smarter. Here’s what he said about what he needs to improve on last week on ESPN radio Seattle:
“The interceptions, I’ve just got to do a better job… There were some times where we were down in some games and I was just trying to be a little aggressive and at times maybe just tried to do a little too much, trying to give us a chance. But I’ve got to be smarter, got to play smarter football, got to play winning football. And at times I was doing it, so just doing it at a more consistent rate. And I feel confident about my ability to do that. It’s just a matter of if I get an opportunity, I’ve got to go out there and show it.”
Another quarterback who had issues with trying to do too much early in his career is Geno Smith, who proved that with patience teams can develop late-blooming stars who might have been written off thanks to those problems early in their careers.
The best comp for Howell is Baker Mayfield. Ever erratic, his career has been up and down since going No. 1 overall but the Buccaneers got the best version of him last year. If the Seahawks think they can engineer a similar growth in Howell it might be worth seeing what he can do.
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