The Minnesota Vikings' offseason search for someone to serve as J.J. McCarthy's backup yielded a trade with the Seattle Seahawks on Day 3 of the draft for Sam Howell. The easy benefit of that move was putting to bed all the rumors about Aaron Rodgers, and after the trade, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah revealed a years-long vetting of Howell going back to the pre-draft process in 2022.
There are indications that there will be a legit, level competition between Howell and Brett Rypien to be the Vikings' No. 2 quarterback. But Howell is the easy favorite, and Rypien will have to obviously outperform him in camp and preseason games to win the job.
Howell has one full season as an NFL starter on his resume, 2023 with the Washington Commanders, and it did not go well overall (an ugly trifecta of a league-highs in pass attempts, sacks taken, and interceptions). But before an eight-game losing streak to end that season, with five of those losses by at least 12 points and three of those by 28 or more, Howell was not as awful as his final stat line showed.
In his other two seasons, Howell has totaled 33 pass attempts. Anyone who writes him off based on that season as a starter is ignoring the bigger picture of a rough situation in Washington. Their thank you to him for taking the lumps was to trade him to the Seahawks.
Sam Howell's place in recent ranking confirms direction Minnesota Vikings should go
Gilberto Manzano of SI.com recently ranked each NFL backup quarterback, counting down from No. 32 to No. 1. The backup situation for some teams, including the Vikings, apparently, can be considered somewhat vague right now.
If Rypien were to be ranked among NFL backups by anyone, he'd be in the bottom few.
In Manzano's ranking, Howell came in at No. 11.
"The Seahawks quickly traded Howell after drafting (Jalen) Milroe to back up (Sam) Darnold. Howell found a home in Minnesota after coach Kevin O’Connell stopped responding to (Aaron) Rodgers’s texts about him possibly joining the team. (That’s a joke, maybe.)
Howell had some positive moments as a starter for the Commanders in 2023. He’ll now help second-year QB J.J. McCarthy prepare for his first season as a starter—unless Rodgers finds a way to Minnesota and not Pittsburgh."
The Seahawks took away any trade leverage they had by drafting Jalen Milroe, so it was not necessary to give up much to get Howell.
But unless things go completely opposite of expectation, on multiple levels, it's clear who the better QB2 option is for the Vikings this year. And it's not the guy whose uncle won a Super Bowl in the Metrodome.