Washington Commanders: Sam Howell should be QB3 to start season

Washington Commanders’ rookie Sam Howell should start the season as QB3 on the depth chart, and it’s nothing negative against him.

In what should sadly come as a surprise to no one because they are the Washington Commanders – the Washington Commanders’ quarterback situation is apparently not looking great in training camp.

Having an elite quarterback is unfamiliar to Washington. They’ve had a few good years from people over the last few decades, but no steady production for a long period of time.

Moves were sort of made this offseason to try and rectify that. Carson Wentz was traded for and Sam Howell was brought in via the draft.

You can excuse fans for not being too excited about that though. Wentz has had plenty of issues and hasn’t been able to replicate his 2017 season.

There are flashes and the numbers tend to not look terrible, but he makes some rough-looking plays and isn’t great at marching the offense down the field. Meanwhile, Howell was a fifth-round pick.

So neither is exactly a blockbuster move on paper.

However, Wentz was an MVP candidate a few years ago. And again, he’s shown flashes. Meanwhile, it was only a year ago that there were talks of Howell being the number one overall pick. And he produced well in 2022. He just slipped far down the board as the year went on.

So with Howell having more hype around him than most fifth-round QBs, there have been some calls for him to start Week 1. That’s not happening barring injuries though. Wentz was brought in to start this season and he’s going to at least be given a chance to do that.

We’ve heard rumblings of Wentz having serious accuracy problems in camp. But Howell has been shaky too. He appears to be making some good plays, but it’s not like he’s severely outplaying Wentz.

This is where it gets a little wild though. Howell shouldn’t even be the backup. He should be QB3.

This is nothing against Howell either. It is simply a way to protect him. Howell shouldn’t be the backup because he should be given a chance to properly prepare for his first in-game action.

Imagine it’s Week 5. The Commanders are struggling out of the gate and Wentz is playing terribly. At halftime, they want to make a change at QB. Do you really want to throw Howell into the fire mid-game?

Even worse, Wentz gets hurt in a game. Now Howell gets zero time to prepare. Not even a few minutes. Instead, he has to march out on the field and try to continue an ongoing drive.

It will 100% frustrate fans to see Sam Howell listed as QB3. Especially if Washington is struggling and Wentz isn’t producing. But it’s not a slight on the rookie. If Wentz isn’t playing well or if there’s an injury, you can still make Howell the starter.

But do it for a fresh game. Give him a full week to practice with the starters and prepare.

Hearing about bad QB play isn’t new to Washington Commanders fans. It’s only camp though. Don’t let it cloud your judgment and make rash decisions that could hurt the future of a potential franchise quarterback.

Sam Howell has a chance to be great. But he’s also a rookie quarterback taken in the fifth round. Don’t expect that greatness to shine by tossing him into a bad situation without prep.