Getty Image / Rob Carr
At the of the 2022 NFL Season, the Washington Commanders seemed to have a clear idea of how they wanted to move forward at quarterback.
Sam Howell performed well enough in his first career start to lead the Commanders to a Week 18 win over the Dallas Cowboys.
After that, it seemed the Commanders were planning on Howell being the team’s starter for the 2023 season and were reportedly even telling offensive coordinators this was the plan.
They even moved on from both of the other quarterbacks that were on the roster last year during this offseason.
Now it looks like he may not actually have the starting job locked up.
During a press conference today, Commanders head coach Ron Rivera said that while Howell started the offseason as the team’s QB1, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’ll remain the team’s starter by the time the season begins.
LIVE: HC Ron Rivera speaks with the media before Day 1 of minicamp https://t.co/aRhVXUBekj
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) June 6, 2023
“Just because I said he’s going to start off as QB1 doesn’t mean he’s going to finish as QB1,” Rivera said. “I like to believe, though, that if he goes out and does the things he’s capable of, he’s got a very good chance of doing that. I think Jacoby has shown us some things that have really gotten people’s attention. We talk about Jacoby almost as much as we talk about Sam.”
When the Commanders opted not to take a QB in the draft even with Will Levis falling to them, it seemed like the job was secure for Howell, but now it’s clear that he’ll still need to beat out Brissett.
Brissett is a solid veteran who has managed to work his way into making starts for 4 different franchises over the last 7 seasons, including starting the first 11 games for the Browns last season.
However, there are definitely limits to how far he can take an offense.
Even if Brissett performs well in training camp, the move that makes the most sense for the Washington Commanders right now is to see what they have in Sam Howell to figure out if they need to be pursuing a QB next offseason.