The Philadelphia Eagles must know something right about football. They keep building competitive teams, and one the Super Bowl last season. But this isn't really about the Eagles. It's not really about the Seattle Seahawks, either.
It could have been quite easily. Last offseason (which must feel like a million years ago to the player), Seattle traded for Sam Howell and made him the backup to Geno Smith. Some fans even hoped Howell would overtake Smith to be Seattle's QB1.
In the one game he got a chance to play in 2024, Howell showed why making him QB1 would have been a terrible mistake. After leading the NFL in interceptions with the Washington Commanders in 2023, Howell completed just five of 14 passes for Seattle in Week 15 against the Green Bay Packers.
Former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Howell finds his way to a champion
He was seemingly so bad, in fact, that even after trading Geno Smith this offseason, general manager John Schneider signed quarterbacks Sam Darnold and Drew Lock in free agency, and drafted Jalen Milroe. This meant Howell was the odd man out.
Sam Howell got his first chance to possibly help his situation when the Seahawks traded the backup to the Minnesota Vikings. Minnesota's head coach, Kevin O'Connell, is something of a QB whisperer, so Howell should have improved under him. He surprisingly didn't.
After performing well in the Vikings' first preseason game, Howell was terrible in preseason Week 2, going one for five passing and throwing an awful interception against the New England Patriots. Howell didn't play in Minnesota's final preseason game. We might know why now.
For some reason, the Eagles decided they liked what they had seen from Howell and decided to work out a trade with Minnesota to acquire the quarterback. Philly sent a fifth-round pick in 2026 and a seventh-round choice in 2027 in return for Howell and a sixth-round 2026 selection.
In other words, Howell has gone from leading the league in interceptions one season to having a 14.6 quarterback rating for the Seattle Seahawks in the next, to having an atrocious preseason with the Vikings the following year, to landing with the Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles. We should all be as lucky as Sam Howell.