How does Sam Howell impact the Seahawks’ draft plans?

John Schneider identified a quarterback he loved in the draft…it just wasn’t from this draft.

John Schneider has acquired his second former-starting quarterback through trade.

Welcome to Seattle, Sam Howell!

Despite whatever Adam Schefter might claim to the contrary, Howell is not in serious consideration to start over Geno Smith this season.

But how might his arrival affect the upcoming draft, or beyond?

I think this trade has big impact, for a number of reasons.

First, let’s acknowledge that Howell isn’t an ordinary backup. A full 17-game starter in his second season, on a truly, impressively bad Washington Commanders team, Howell has 631 NFL passing attempts as a 23-year old.

Michael Penix Jr., for instance, has 0 such attempts and turns 24 three months before Howell.

It’s not terribly common for a guy to get traded halfway through his rookie contract, while actually boasting real experience.

Additionally, John Schneider nearly drafted Howell three years ago.

Corbin Smith writes:

Schneider was “smitten” over Howell and met with him at the Senior Bowl as well as the NFL combine. But with Lock coming over in the Russell Wilson trade and Smith returning on a new contract, he opted to attack other positional needs, viewing the then-25-year old Lock as a pseudo draft pick seeking a fresh start in Seattle.

This move was a genuine and welcome surprise to me, as Sam Howell truly impressed me last year. Not his statistics, as one of our writers (who will go unnamed but rhymes with Dilbert) is quick to point out the number of interceptions in 2023. But his style, toughness, speed are fun to watch, and I really thought he played well against the Seahawks last season.

So, the draft.

Let’s put Sam Howell in the same category as Drew Lock, which is a quarterback not currently better than Geno Smith, but perhaps has the better chance of being the quarterback in 2025 and beyond. Let’s also let each have their own opinion as to who has greater upside. My personal belief is that rests with Howell. He’s also cheaper and younger. Furthermore, this trade was completed after the new Head Coach and Offensive Coordinators arrived, indicating their approval as well.

What does this mean for the first round?

My sense it is true both that this does not take Seattle out of the running for a QB in the draft, and Howell should be viewed as far more than just a cheap backup. I wonder if this trade was done, in part, because Schneider has a sense of how attainable it may be to get J.J. McCarthy in the first round. Or Bo Nix, or wherever they have pegged Michael Penix.

This to me signals that the Seahawks can move forward with far more breathing room to simply fill the roster. Most specifically, I think this increases the likelihood of going offensive line in the first round. Trade back or not, it doesn’t really matter. But it removes the pressure of trying to trade back far enough or time things just right to get that 2nd in order to take Nix or Penix, etc.

Schneider has long lamented how many quarterbacks he’s wanted to draft but the board just didn’t fall right. If it does, there are guys with better potential upside than Howell. But Washington was so bad last year that he’s got a real shot to learn from a great leader in Smith, and a dynamic coach in Ryan Grubb.

Whether he’s the future or not, this sets Seattle up perfectly to get somebody like Troy Fautanu at what now stands as the position of greatest need.

It’s so obvious, that I expect John will do something else entirely.

That was a lot of words to say, I’m no longer holding my breath for a quarterback next month.

And I haven’t decided how I feel about that just yet.