'No Clue, Man!' Commanders QB Sam Howell Rank Provides NFL Mystery

Will Washington Commanders' quarterback Sam Howell emerge as a solution in his second season?

As you try to predict 2023 records, the Washington Commanders are perhaps the hardest team to place. While they were the only team in the NFC East not to reach the postseason a year ago, the Commanders still won eight games despite a musical chairs situation at quarterback. 

A scenario certainly exists where Washington finds stability under center in 2023, and competes for a postseason spot, especially with Eric Bieniemy now in at offensive coordinator. But with former fifth-round pick Sam Howell -- who took all of 19 snaps in his rookie season -- likely to be the Week 1 starter for Washington, it's hard to have any level of certainty about what's to come from the Commanders in 2023. 

To that end, CBS Sports recently placed all 32 projected quarterbacks in tiers prior to the 2023 season. Despite helping lead the Commanders to a Week 18 upset of the Dallas Cowboys, Howell still was placed in the "No clue, man" category. Howell was joined by Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals, Jordan Love of the Green Bay Packers, Desmond Ridder of the Atlanta Falcons and Baker Mayfield of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

The uncertainty around Howell makes it surprising that coach Ron Rivera -- whose seat is seemingly warm as Josh Harris' ownership group gets set to take over in Washington -- decided to potentially bet his job on the second-year quarterback. It may be that the Commanders feel like Howell is set to emerge as a legitimate starting quarterback in 2023. It is fair to wonder, though, why if Washington was so high on Howell he didn't play sooner in his rookie season. Some players benefit from sitting early on in the NFL, but was Howell not ready to play at the beginning of December when Washington was still in the playoff race and neither Carson Wentz or Taylor Heinicke had seized the starting quarterback job? 

Veteran Jacoby Brissett -- one of the league's better backups -- is behind Howell. But Brissett is entering his eighth NFL season, and the Commanders will be his fifth team. He's not a long-term answer as the starter at quarterback. And to convince new ownership not to bring in their own regime, Rivera will likely need to be able to show that he has a potential franchise quarterback to show after four seasons on the job. So quite a bit rests on the arm of Howell in 2023. Will he rise to the challenge? 

Honestly, no clue, man. 

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