Sam Howell is trending toward being the best quarterback in the 2022 draft.
The quarterbacks taken in the 2022 draft were Kenny Pickett 20th (Pittsburgh), Desmond Ridder 74th (Atlanta), Malik Willis 86th (Tennessee), Matt Corral 94th (Carolina), Bailey Zappe 137th (New England), Howell 144th (Washington), Chris Oladakun 241st (Pittsburgh), Skylar Thompson 247th (Miami), and Brock Purdy 262nd (San Francisco).
But after starting all ten games of the 2023 season, Howell is trending upward in the right direction. Quickly enough, that it is by no means unreasonable to declare Howell may actually be the top quarterback from the 2022 draft.
Sam Howell’s top 20 plays this season (according to me): pic.twitter.com/LslebqMpeB
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) November 16, 2023
Howell currently leads the NFL in 2023 with 264 pass completions. One could argue, yes, but he should, seeing he also leads the NFL in pass attempts with 397. Fair enough, but consider Howell leads in passing yards as well (2,783).
Howell is also throwing touchdown passes, currently tied for 5th with 17. On the other hand, Purdy does lead the NFL in passer rating with 109.9, so he has shown himself to be capable as well.
On the negative side, Howell has thrown the fourth-highest number of interceptions (9). None of the other 2022 drafted quarterbacks are in the top ten.
Also on the downside for Howell is the fact that he remains the most sacked quarterback in the NFL this season (47). Ridder (Atlanta) has been sacked 6th most (25).
Howell leads the class of 2022 in passing yards per game (278.3). Purdy, on the other hand, does lead the NFL in yards per pass attempt (9.3) and net yards per pass attempt (8.39).
Purdy leads the 2022 class and is 7th in the NFL in completion percentage 68.8. Howell is second in the class, with 66.5 percent being completed. Consider, in addition, that he is attempting more passes.
Pickett, Purdy and Howell are the only ones in the class considered to be the firm starters of their team. Ridder was recently pulled for Taylor Heinicke.
Yes, there remain seven games to be played in the Commanders season. However, after some rough games earlier, Sam Howell has put together good games his last three starts.
Howell is certainly trending upward.