Commanders mercifully end Sam Howell’s NFL Draft fall

The Washington Commanders selected quarterback Sam Howell in the fifth round, let’s grade the pick.

Coming into the draft, the Washington Commanders were in a weird spot at the quarterback position. They haven’t had a long-term solution there in a while. But they brought in Carson Wentz this offseason.

Washington sent draft picks to the Indianapolis Colts and took on the massive (one-year) contract of the QB.

Due to that, it felt like they were in limbo at the position. Would they draft someone? It turns out, yes they would. Sam Howell came off the board in the fifth round (144th overall). Is this a good move? Let’s grade it out.

Sam Howell is very very interesting. At this point last year, he was projected to be the first overall pick in the draft. However, a lot has happened since then. Howell didn’t look the same without some of his big weapons.

He still ended up putting up good numbers, but it didn’t feel right. And North Carolina struggling certainly didn’t help his draft stock.

Even with all that though, Howell was mocked mainly in the second round. But quarterbacks have been free-falling all draft. So that might be part of the reason he dropped so far.

This does make sense for Washington. Wentz is on a one-year deal. He hasn’t been bad, but he hasn’t exactly been great either. So was he really the long-term plan for the Commanders? They were probably expecting to see how things worked out this year. If Wentz succeeds, sign him long-term and build around him.

However, if he failed, they didn’t really have a contingency plan. That’s where Howell comes in. Washington needed to find someone now. Because Wentz isn’t dreadful. So it’s hard to imagine the Commanders were going to completely bomb this year. That would’ve left them in a weird spot last year.

Now Washington at least has someone on the roster. If things go south, they have a young guy to work on. That gives hope for the position.

There are plenty of questions surrounding Howell. But the Commanders just got a guy that at one point was projected to be the first overall pick of the entire draft in the fifth round. And they did it for a position of need.

Final Grade: A-