Commanders Brissett, Howell still in battle for starting quarterback

Ron Rivera confirmed no starting quarterback has been decided, even with Howell receiving first-team reps.

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“Things have not been going great for Sam Howell, they’ve kind of trended the wrong way.”

That is how Craig Hoffman began his Take Command Podcast this week with Logan Paulsen.

Hoffman continued, “And it feels like Jacoby Brissett is getting a bit more comfortable.”

Paulsen replied that Howell, the first three OTA workouts, “came out looking very sharp on rhythm, timing, balls out of his hand quickly, finding the open guy, confident throws down the field.”

The second week brought a different result, according to Paulsen. He felt the blitz package was something the offense had not yet built in their protections, and the young secondary guys were effectively matching up with receivers.

“On the sixth day, I would say Sam had, not a bad day, but it definitely wasn’t a good day, a day he would probably want to have back,” expressed Paulsen.

Jacoby Brissett? Paulsen quickly asserted, “we talked about it when they signed him, we expected him to be better earlier…His experience is helping him out…He understands what’s happening at a higher level.”

Then we have head coach Ron Rivera Tuesday on this first day of mandatory workouts. He said to the media, “Again, it’s one of those things that, guys, it’s … just because I said (Howell’s) gonna start off as QB1 doesn’t mean he’s gonna finish as QB1. I like to believe, though, that if he goes out and does things he’s capable of, he’s got a very, very good chance of doing that.”

“I think Jacoby’s shown us some things that have really caught people’s attention. We talk about Jacoby almost as much as we talk about Sam. I just think as we go through this process and until we play games, it’d be unfair to start making assessments. Again, there is a lot of confidence.”

But Rivera was also quick to add that Howell and Brissett are both team players. They are supportive of each other for the good of the team. “You want a good room where you know there’s a lot of cooperation and everybody’s pulling for one another and there’s not a split dynamic between them. That’s really been probably the best thing I’ve seen.”