It was less than 16 months ago when the Washington Commanders traded quarterback Sam Howell to the Seattle Seahawks in a pick swap.
The trade gave Hawks fans hopes of Howell potentially being the quarterback of the future after he had carved up Pete’s Carroll and Clint Hurtt’s defense to the tune of 312 yards and three touchdowns in Week 10 of the 2023 season.
Howell saw extremely limited action in 2024, though, spending the year backing up Geno Smith, before the Seahawks sent Howell to the Minnesota
Vikings on the final day of the 2025 NFL Draft.
In Minnesota Howell was set to compete with second year quarterback and 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy, but it wasn’t much of a competition, and the Vikings have now opted to move on from Howell, sending him back to the NFC East.
So, the Vikings get:
- 2026 fifth-round pick and a
- 2027 seventh-round pick
while the Eagles receive:
- 2026 sixth-round pick and
- Sam Howell.
Coincidentally, Minnesota traded Howell after agreeing to terms with former Philadelphia quarterback Carson Wentz to backup McCarthy.
And, interestingly, in order to make room for Howell on the Philadelphia roster, the Eagles are releasing Lewis Cine, the first round pick of the Vikings in 2022.
And, for those curious, there was no shortage of speculation that John Schneider had made the move to trade for Howell in part because of the numbers he had put up against the Seahawks. Similarly, a couple of the best games of Howell’s career came against the Eagles defense in 2023:
- Week 4: 29-41, 290 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
- Week 8: 39-52, 397 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT
And, for another connection to the Seahawks, for those who may have forgotten, the 2023 Eagles defense was led by none other than former Seattle assistant head coach Sean Desai.
