There is a lot going on with the Washington Commanders right now. First, there is the team sale from Daniel Snyder to Josh Harris. With the NFL owners meetings taking place this week in Minnesota, other owners and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell have spoken out regarding the Commanders’ sale.
There’s also defensive ends Chase Young, Montez Sweat and left tackle Charles Leno Jr. missing the first day of Washington’s OTAs Tuesday.
With all of that going on, it was easy to forget that the Commanders were on the field for OTAs Tuesday. While the media wasn’t present Tuesday, fortunately, Zach Selby of commanders.com was in attendance.
And in his practice report, one thing stood out: Quarterback Sam Howell.
Selby noted that, yes, while it is early, Howell’s accuracy is standing out.
Howell looked in command of the offense in the huddle and during plays, but his accuracy stuck out on several occasions. He only had four incompletions combined in both 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills: one was out of bounds targeting Brian Robinson, but the rest were drops. One of the more impressive passes was to Terry McLaurin with Benjamin St-Juste bearing down on him. Another highlight was a sideline toss to John Bates, who made the snag right before Jartavius Martin could break up the play.
Two things here: This is what you want to see. If there were nothing on Howell and the attention was focused on Jacoby Brissett, there would be questions.
Secondly, it is early and means nothing. But that doesn’t mean it’s not notable.
For all of the criticism Washington has faced for giving Howell an opportunity to start at quarterback in 2023, he needed a strong offseason. While Tuesday was just Day 1 of OTAs, it is the start that Howell needed. We’ll see if that carries over when the media watches and into the team’s mandatory minicamp next month.