Most people assumed Sam Howell would be the Commanders starting quarterback long before head coach Ron Rivera made it official late last week.
It’s hard to blame Rivera for taking his time before setting anything in stone. His Commanders tenure has been filled with false hope and misfires at the quarterback position and he noted at his Wednesday press conference that “every year it was a conversation” about what direction to take at the picture.
Rivera was asked what feels different this time and he said he’s confident “going into this season that we’ve got a guy.”
“I think there’s not that question mark still, you know what I’m saying? For three seasons, I’ve always felt that I had a question mark and now you feel like, ‘Okay, this is pretty good.’ I mean, I’m pretty comfortable, pretty confident and I look forward to seeing it,” Rivera said. “I really do. I mean, the other night seeing it was, ‘Wow, he did some really nice thing. Let’s keep rolling, let’s keep growing and hopefully it continues.’”
Rivera and the Commanders staff have committed to Howell, but he’s only made one NFL regular season start so there’s still a lot of unknowns at play heading into the season. Filling in those blanks will determine the organization’s ultimate commitment to the current direction in Washington.
