The most notable move the Minnesota Vikings made on Day 3 of the 2025 NFL Draft had nothing to do with a player they selected or an undrafted rookie they signed.
After weeks of some level of speculation, the Vikings acquired quarterback Sam Howell from the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday as they also moved down from pick No. 142 to No. 172. Howell will now take the No. 2 spot on the depth chart behind J.J. McCarthy.
Howell had an excellent first two college seasons at North Carolina before a disappointing junior season led to him falling to the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
He had a rough run in his second year with the Washington Commanders, starting all 17 games while leading the league in pass attempts (612), sacks taken (65), and interceptions (21). An eight-game losing streak to end that season positioned the Commanders to take Jayden Daniels in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Washington traded Howell to the Seahawks last offseason, and he appeared in two games last season as Geno Smith's backup.
Before acquiring him from the Seattle Seahawks, the Minnesota Vikings have liked Sam Howell for a while
During his post-draft press conference on Saturday, Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah naturally talked about Howell as part of the team's draft haul.
"We had watched Sam, in our quarterback journey, our process, for the last couple years, and [he is] somebody a lot of people in this building had appreciation for."
In reference to his initial comment, Adofo-Mensah was asked if he had done any work on Howell going into the 2022 draft. That was his first draft as Minnesota's general manager.
"Yeah, we did some work on him. I like that word 'did some work'
...Drafting a quarterback's a marriage. We didn't think in that first year together, when Kevin (O'Connell) and I got together, that was the right time in our journey, to make such an investment."
Adofo-Mensah added, "Organizations fail quarterbacks long before quarterbacks fail organizations" as the core rationale for not drafting a quarterback in 2022. He eventually got back toward the relationship/marriage analogy, and the inherence of having the right timing.
“We weren’t in the right place to do that type of thing. And, so, we didn’t think that was the right time. But he (Howell) was a pure talent, and all those other things we talk about, he was high up on our board, but just didn’t think it was the right time and place.
And sometimes that happens in life, that maybe a person you’re dating is not the right time and place, but then later on in life it happens at a better time.”
The hope is McCarthy stays healthy and asserts himself as the long-term answer under center. But the Vikings' affinity for Howell goes back to when he was coming into the league, and the time is now right to commence the relationship.