Why Sam Howell could be better than Trevor Lawrence

(Stats as of Week 10)

Coming into his first year as a starter, Sam Howell has quietly been having a very impressive season. With the Commanders expected to be a bottom-two team in the NFL, Howell has been the driving force to give them a 4-6 record with 6 games left to play. Even despite the team making moves that indicate giving up on the season, such as trading away star edge rushers Montez Sweat and Chase Young, the Commanders have the playoffs on their radar thanks to one man.

Being a semi-mobile gun-slinging quarterback, Howell draws some great parallels to Trevor Lawrence and in many ways even surpasses him. Both have to suffer behind abysmal offensive lines, and both have an average defense. With that in mind, Trevor Lawrence has a better head coach, significantly better weapons (Ridley, Kirk, Jones, Etienne, Engram), and a much worse division to play against. Being a rookie in a system that his continuously struggled for years, expectations for Howell were vastly low. Regardless, he has found a way to lead the entire NFL in passing yards, something that is rarely ever the case for a rookie QB.

Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Is Trevor Lawrence bad at football? Of course not. In fact, the Jaguars have been having a very solid season thus far. However, he has been very sloppy with the football. Lawrence has a career TD/INT ratio of 1.48, and this season he has more turnovers than touchdowns. He has the ability to extend plays and make elite throws, but we have barely seen it this season. At best, he has been game-managing behind a stellar run game, making simple throws to Christian Kirk on third and short to keep drives alive. In week 10, when his running game finally got bottled up against the 49ers, Lawrence was finally asked to put the team on his back. What did he produce? 185 yards, 0 TDs, and 2 INTs. Against a similar team, the Eagles, Howell was also asked to be spectacular and rose the the occasion. With 397 yards, 4TDs and 1 INT, it is safe to say that he doesn’t back down from a shootout. The sample size is small, but that doesn’t delegitimize the numbers. To say Howell could be better is certainly not a knock at Lawrence, as it is more of a pat on the back to Howell.

One issue to consider when looking at Sam Howell, is the amount he has been sacked. On one hand, he has one of the worst offensive lines in football, with 4 new players starting this year. On the other hand, 47 sacks with 6 games left to go can be an indicator of poor pocket awareness. With that said, Joe Burrow was sacked 70 times the year that he took his team to the Super Bowl, and has never been criticized regarding his pocket awareness.

Overall, Sam Howell is not definitively better than Trevor Lawrence now. With that said, it is certainly a situation to monitor. If he gets a few more weapons and an offensive line, the Eagles, Cowboys, and Giants may have huge threat to win the division on their hands.