Former NFL executive Mike Lombardi is never one to shy away from saying something controversial. More often than not, Lombardi’s outspoken criticisms don’t age well.
These days, Lombardi co-hosts a podcast covering the NFL and pops up on the radio from time to time. On Monday, he was a guest of the “Sports Junkies” on 106.7 The Fan in Washington, D.C.
No surprise, Lombardi was outspoken.
“I said this to three or four head coaches in the league this offseason: I would rather have had Sam Howell than a lot of these quarterbacks that are drafted in the first round,” he said via Lou DiPietro of Audacy.
“Other than Caleb Williams, I probably would rather have Sam Howell than any of them. What do you think Jayden Daniels would have done in that offense last year? He would have never made it through Week 3! (Howell) is tougher than nails. He got the crap beat out of him, and they gave him no help at all. Riverboat Ron was standing over there watching Bieniemy call passes and he was too scared to tell him to not do it. He was completely intimidated by him. He didn’t want to rattle the cages, or do anything politically that could upset things. The players were upset with Ron for not saying something!”
A lot of what Lombardi said here is on the money. Howell is tough, Bieniemy was bad as Washington’s OC and Rivera stood there with his arms crossed for much of the season. However, to say he’d rather have Howell than Daniels is probably a stretch. This is how you pose this question: If all 32 NFL teams had a quarterback need and held the No. 2 overall pick, would they choose Daniels or stick with Howell?
It’s fair to say that most would go with Daniels.
Back to Howell. He can play. We’ve gone on record multiple times stating that he is a starting quarterback in the NFL. He was put in a horrible position last season, and despite lots of promise in the first half, he predictably crashed in the second half. He had no help from the coaching staff.
Washington general manager Adam Peters had the chance to stick with Howell, trade down for a haul of picks and build around him. He chose Daniels. That’s not a knock on Howell, but likely how almost all other NFL decisionmakers would have proceeded, too.