Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback of all time and arguably the best NFL player of all time. In a career that spanned 23 years, Brady rewrote records and won an NFL record seven Super Bowl championships.
If you haven’t heard before, Brady was a sixth-round pick in the 2000 NFL Draft — No. 199 overall. Therefore, when a new young quarterback emerges on the third day of the NFL draft, Brady’s name will always be mentioned.
Washington Commanders signal-caller Sam Howell has a chance to be the best Day 3 quarterback since Tom Brady, according to CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso.
As Trapasso points out, since 2000, 169 quarterbacks have been drafted in the fourth round or later. Besides Brady, there are some pretty good quarterbacks like Kirk Cousins and Dak Prescott.
Here’s what Trapasso had to say about Howell:
Now we come to Howell, the Commander’s fifth-round pick in 2022. Obviously, based on history, most Day 3 quarterback selections aren’t too glamorous. Howell is the exception, as he was widely considered a future first-round pick before his final season at North Carolina and, to many, the top quarterback prospect in the 2022 draft.
Howell’s season so far:
This season, Howell made a “leap.” Does that mean he’s absolutely perfect or should be in the MVP race. No. But he’s clearly taken a pretty big step forward and is regularly making throws that the vast majority of young quarterbacks simply can’t throw. Take a look at how Howell fares in the Big Throw (BTT) department against these fairly well-known passers:
We often notice that some people often criticize Howell because he is a fifth-round pick. Both the media and fans had some scary thoughts on the matter: “There’s no way he’s going to be the franchise quarterback because he was drafted in the fifth round.”
nonsense. Of course, the odds are against you, but there are exceptions every year in the draft, just not always at the quarterback position.
The next strike was that he took too many sacks to be effective long-term.
Trapasso took note of the sack numbers, but as Washington fans know, those numbers are also improving.
More from Trapasso:
Along with sacks, interceptions and/or turnover-worthy plays must also come down. For a young quarterback, these turnover issues may last longer than the sack issues, but let’s not forget that Howell has just completed half of the NFL’s regular season games. It wouldn’t be too concerning if he ends the 2023 season with between 13 and 17 interceptions, especially if he can counter with 40+ outstanding passes, which is what he’s tracking .
Mentioning Tom Brady’s name for any quarterback — regardless of their draft position — is dangerous. Note, Trapasso isn’t saying Howell is the next Brady, but he certainly believes he can be the Commanders’ franchise quarterback.
Surprisingly, Washington drafted two outstanding third-round picks in Cousins and Howell. We know what the relationship between Cousins and Washington is like. But if Howell proves to be a franchise passer, new owner Josh Harris will make sure he stays with the Commanders long-term.