Report: Seahawks beat out Broncos (among other teams) for Sam Howell

Report: Seahawks beat out Broncos (among other teams) for Sam Howell

The Seattle Seahawks replaced backup quarterback Drew Lock by trading for former Washington Commanders starter Sam Howell. Seattle swapped a third- and fifth-round pick in next month’s NFL Draft for a fourth- and sixth-rounder, plus control over the final two season of Howell’s contract.

At the time the trade was made, Seahawks general manager John Schneider indicated that there was a market for Howell’s services, and multiple teams were interested in getting a deal done.

“We were kind of sweating that this morning and talking to the Commanders and Adam Peters, their general manager,” Schneider said. “We were sweating it out. There were several teams involved with it.”

It looks as if one of those teams was the Denver Broncos. Here’s the blurb from Broncos reporter Mike Klis:

Sources tell 9NEWS the Broncos had interest in free agent Sam Darnold and were in on the trade for Washington quarterback Sam Howell. But the price got steep on both, and Darnold wound up signing with Minnesota for a $10 million, one-year deal and Howell was dealt to Seattle in a double swap of draft picks that resulted in late-third-round value.

Just as an aside, the “late-third-round value” line is referring to how the Jimmy Johnson chart views the draft capital given up. If you use the Fitzgerald-Spielberger valuation chart, which focuses more on expected performance of a draft pick, Seattle gave up the equivalent of a seventh-round pick.

Denver released Russell Wilson two seasons after acquiring him from the Seahawks in a blockbuster trade. Their current quarterback room consists of Jarrett Stidham and Ben DiNucci, so it makes sense that they were in on QBs for trade or free agency. Most likely, they’ll be taking a QB in next month’s NFL Draft, where they’re slotted at No. 12.

I guess the Broncos didn’t want to give up multiple first-round picks again to land a potential QB of the future…