Commanders' Ron Rivera Reveals How Sam Howell Can Win QB Battle

Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera is overseeing a quarterback battle between Sam Howell and Jacoby Brissett and has detailed what he likes in Howell's improvement this offseason.

The quarterback position for the Washington Commanders is still a big question mark. Sam Howell and Jacoby Brissett battling it out for the starting job, and Howell is getting the first crack. ... but it remains early in the process.

Head coach Ron Rivera likes the progression he has seen from Howell during his first game against the Dallas Cowboys - a win that closed out 2022 - to what he is showing now in training camp.

“More than anything else is consistent play and growth," Rivera said. "One of the things I really appreciated, and I go back to the Dallas game was how we played, how we self-corrected. How he handled things, how he changed things on his own and some of his own decision-making. Those are things you want to see that tells you he is growing and he’s getting it."

With the Washington offense boasting some nice weapons in Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, Curtis Samuel, and running back Brian Robinson Jr., Howell will not have to do all the heavy lifting in new coordinator Eric Bieniemy's offense.

However, that is predicated on Howell beating out Brissett for the starting role, and seeing as he is an unknown commodity in the NFL, some feel that Washington needs to see what they have in the second-year quarterback before making the call. ... and that is the right call.

Brissett is a known commodity, and that's not a bad thing; reliability is an asset. But Washington must work to discover how high Howell's ceiling might be before moving off what is surely the desired outcome - Sam as the starter.

Training camp has gotten off to a decent start for Howell, but the "football bullets" are not yet really flying. For now, consistent play and growth are all that Rivera wants from his young quarterback. ... as we want to see if that "decision-making" ability he flashed against the Cowboys is a foundational part of his skill set.

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