The Washington Commanders traded their 2023 starting quarterback, Sam Howell, to the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday in a draft pick exchange. According to some draft charts, the Commanders ended up with a late-round pick for Howell. Not a bad deal for Washington, which now has six picks in the top 100 of next month’s NFL draft, including the No. 2 overall pick which will be used to select the Commanders’ quarterback of the future. As for Howell, he also gets a fresh start after a difficult 2023 season. After the Seahawks’ trade for Howell became official, their longtime GM, John Schneider, spoke about the trade. “We were kind of sweating that this morning and talking to the Commanders and Adam Peters, their general manager,” Schneider told hosts Dave Wyman and Bob Stelton of Seattle Sports. “We were sweating it out. There were several teams involved with it and you know, Sam’s a football player, that’s the best way to describe it.” Schneider remembers how well Howell played against the Seahawks in a 29-26 last-second Seattle win in November, where Howell completed 29 of 44 passes for 312 yards and three touchdowns. That loss would be the first of eight in a row for the Commanders to finish the season. “He had a great day against us this past fall,” Schneider said. “He’s a quarterback, but he’s really a football player. That’s what I love about him. Really tough, young, he’s 23 years old and has 18 starts in the league already. He’s the same age as (Jayden) Daniels from LSU, (Spencer” Rattler, and (Michael) Penix (Jr.) and he’s a year younger than Bo Nix. We’re just really excited to be able to acquire him. We know he’s a serious dude, he’s into it, works his tail off, we got great reviews on him and we loved him coming out of college. So, yeah, we’re happy to get him in the mix. Geno is the guy, and Sam will be backing him up.” Schneider again discussed the game from November and how it impressed him. Here is the video of #Seahawks President of Football Operations talking about why they made the move for QB Sam Howell and his role on this team going forward. https://t.co/FDVHgy9zns pic.twitter.com/FQ9XC67Mly — Seattle Sports (@SeattleSports) March 14, 2024 “The day we played here, that hit home how tough he was, how strong he was,” Schneider said. “Keeping his eyes downfield, finding the open receiver and, yeah, shoot, almost winning the game there at the end.” When asked to reiterate if Howell would push Geno Smith as the starter, Schneider smiled and said he was sure there would be competition between the two, but the move was made for Howell to be Smith’s backup in 2024. It’s pretty clear how much Schneider likes Howell. The Seahawks have some talent on offense, too, with one of the league’s best trios of wide receivers and a pair of talented running backs. Seattle, like Washington, also has a first-year coach in 2024 in former Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald.
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