Could Sam Howell Be the Seahawks Next Franchise QB?

The Seattle Seahawks are entering a new era, as longtime head coach Pete Carroll has been replaced by the young Mike Macdonald, who's bringing along new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb from Washington. There will also be a new starting QB in Seattle soon, as Geno Smith will be 34 years old and has only one guaranteed year left on his contract.

At the start of free agency, Seattle swung a trade with Washington for QB Sam Howell, but also tried to trade up for Michael Penix Jr., whom Grubb coached at Washington. However, what if Howell is actually the franchise’s QB of the future? It seems like a crazy argument, but hear me out.

John Schneider’s History With QBs

Among NFL executives, Seahawks GM John Schneider has to be among the top of them when it comes to evaluating QBs. Having gotten his start under the Ron Wolf regime in Green Bay, Schneider would spend a total of 12 seasons between two separate stints with the team from 1992 to 2009. During that time, he had a hand in the drafting of QBs Mark Brunell, Aaron Rodgers, and Matt Flynn, while also evaluating eventual Packers undrafted free agent signing Kurt Warner.

Brunell would go on to become the all time leading passer for the Jaguars, Flynn was a solid backup for the Packers, and Rodgers and Warner are either in the Hall of Fame or will be soon.

After arriving in Seattle, Schneider drafted Russell Wilson in the third round of the 2012 draft, and although Wilson went on to become a Hall of Fame-caliber dual threat QB, Schneider continued scouting the position. In 2017, Schneider planned to draft Patrick Mahomes if he had been available at 26th overall. The following year, he attempted to trade Wilson to the Browns for the first overall pick, which would have been used to draft Josh Allen. In 2019, he signed Geno Smith, who became a two-time Pro Bowler and one-time NFL completion percentage leader when given the starting job after Wilson got traded in 2022.

The Wilson trade also sent QB Drew Lock to Seattle. Although Lock is best-known as a backup, his performance in a win over the Eagles last year helped Seattle remain in the playoff hunt until the final week of the season.

Sam Howell Has Untapped Potential

Although he's entering his third NFL season, there is still untapped potential for Sam Howell.

Once thought of as a future first-round pick, Howell was taken in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft. After mostly redshirting his first year, Howell started all 17 games of his second season. Although he took 65 sacks and led the NFL with 21 interceptions, he completed 63% of his passes for 3,946 yards and 21 touchdowns while also adding five rushing touchdowns, all while being on a Washington team that went 4-13 and had the 32nd ranked defense along with no quality receivers outside of Terry McLaurin.

In Seattle, Howell will be inheriting a roster that has young talent on both sides of the ball. Their offensive weapons are way better than what he had in Washington, he will have a better offensive line, and he will have a better defense. If Mike Macdonald pans out, Howell will arguably have a better coach than he did in Washington.

However, Howell will need to cut down on his habit of taking sacks, a habit he has had since college, if he wants to succeed. Howell is among the league leaders in pressure to sack rate, which is how often a QB is pressured before being sacked. Last season, Howell’s 23.5% P2S rate led the league, and the next closest was Kirk Cousins was 18.3%. In his final college season in 2021, Howell had a 26.7% P2S rate. The high rate shows that although Howell often faces a moderate amount of pressure from opposing defenses, he is also responsible for a good amount of sacks he has taken.

I believe that based on his performance last year, John Schneider’s evaluation of QBs, and the situation he is entering, Sam Howell can become the future of the Seattle Seahawks. He is one of those players whose success is dependent on the situation around him, and he may not be a high end starter, but if he can become a Kirk Cousins or Dak Prescott level player, Seattle will have their next franchise QB. Howell was once considered a first round pick at one time for a reason, and this is his chance to show us why he was highly thought of.

Serafino Diaz is a writer at Chaotically Intolerant, Phoenix's finest Vikings, Bucks, and Cubs fan, traveling everywhere I can.