ASHBURN, Va. — When the Commanders take the field against Seattle, it will mark quarterback Sam Howell’s 11th start under center for Washington.
The second-year player has had mixed results in his first 10 starts for the Burgundy and Gold. The team has gone 5-5 with Howell as a starter, and the quarterback has thrown 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Ever since Howell started playing football, quarterback has been his position.
“I started playing flag football when I was in first grade,” Howell told sports anchor Chick Hernandez in a rare one-on-one interview. “I was always the quarterback. My dad made me be quarterback for some reason. Ever since then, in just watching football [while] growing up, this is what I wanted to do.”
Growing up, the Commanders’ signal caller admired a quarterback similar in stature.
“Drew Brees was my guy growing up, my favorite player,” Howell said. “He wasn’t the most gifted athlete, but he got the job done. He did it [unselfishly], and it was fun to watch.”
And through the Commanders quarterback’s first 10 games, his numbers are not that different compared to Brees’ first 10 games in the NFL. The Saints went 6-4 in Brees’ first 10 games. Also like Howell, the former Chargers and Saints quarterback threw for 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions to start his career.
Howell admits that it takes time to get fully comfortable playing in the NFL. For Howell, the moment that he finally felt comfortable was the Week 2 game this season against the Denver Broncos.
“The Denver game was the first game I felt really confident in my abilities as far as playing well at this level,” he said. “Obviously I always thought could do it, but you really don’t know until you go out there and do it. After that game, I was very confident.”
One his favorite things about this season is getting to work with offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. The offensive coordinator is in his first season with the Commanders after 10 seasons in Kansas City with the Chiefs.
“The Chiefs have had a lot of success, especially in the passing game, so obviously I was super excited about us hiring EB here,” Howell said. “But it’s cool to kind of see it on paper, and see how they installed it and how they did it. So, it’s been fun to learn the system.”
Before he was drafted by the Commanders, Howell played college football at the University of North Carolina. At UNC, Howell wore No. 7. So, Chick asked Howell if he gave any thought to asking Joe Theismann for his blessing to wear his old number.
“Nah, I didn’t ask him. Coming in here as a rookie, I didn’t think I was worthy or anything of asking Joe. He was a tremendous player here, and obviously, you’ve gotta be somebody to wear that number. I think I still have a long way to go to get to that point.”
Sam Howell and the Commanders will face the Seattle Seahawks Sunday at 4:25 p.m. in Seattle, Washington.