Geno Smith Is The Seahawks’ Starting QB, But Sam Howell Has “Really Cool Upside”

ORLANDO—The Seahawks decision to trade for Sam Howell this offseason didn’t create a quarterback controversy for the team.

“Geno’s our guy,” president of football operations/general manager John Schneider said at the NFL Annual Meeting Tuesday, reiterating a point he and head coach Mike Macdonald have made multiple times in recent weeks since the trade to acquire Howell, who started all 17 games for Washington last season.

Schneider said that not long after Mike Macdonald said, “Geno’s going to go into camp, he’s the starter, really excited about that.”

But even if there’s no doubt about the starting quarterback this season, the Seahawks still see a lot of upside in the player they acquired earlier this month. At 23, Howell is the same age or younger than some of the top prospects in this year’s draft class, yet he already has 18 NFL starts under his belt, including 17 last season when he attempted the most passes in the league. That type of volume, combined with a lack of a running game, also led to Howell throwing a league-high 21 interceptions while being the most-sacked quarterback in the league, but those growing pains are outweighed by the positive traits and the toughness that showed up throughout the year, Schneider said, including a 312-yard, three-touchdown performance in Washington’s Week 10 loss in Seattle.