Tyler Forness discusses why Seattle Seahawks QB Sam Howell is the perfect backup quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings.
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00:00Backup quarterback is becoming somewhat of a concern for the Minnesota Vikings,
00:03but it really shouldn't be because that guy is probably on someone else's roster.
00:11The Minnesota Vikings need a backup quarterback behind J.J. McCarthy.
00:15Yes, they have Brett Rippin, and he started a couple games in the National Football League,
00:18but you want somebody you feel a little bit more comfortable with if McCarthy has to miss a couple
00:22of weeks to potentially win you those games. Rippin does not instill that confidence.
00:27Guys like Nick Mullins, who have moved on to the Jacksonville Jaguars from the Vikings,
00:32didn't instill that confidence. It was chaotic. There were turnovers,
00:35but he would throw for 400 yards and a couple touchdowns. He would keep you in football games.
00:40That's what you want. You want a guy who can do those things for you,
00:44and I think the Vikings can end up finding that, but it's getting a lot slimmer in the free agent market.
00:49Joe Flacco and Drew Locke signed on Friday afternoon with teams,
00:54and there's a lot of panic and sighing, just like the one I gave you there,
00:59about whether or not the Vikings were going to be able to find a good one.
01:03Well, that's the thing. Drew Locke signed with the Seattle Seahawks, who had him in 2023.
01:08Locke left for greener pastures. Well, he thought so, going to the New York Giants in 2024,
01:13thinking, hey, I might have a chance to start there.
01:15But he kind of did. He got to play a little bit because of Daniel Jones end up getting caught
01:22and benched, all that stuff, and he had one of the best games in NFL history, surprisingly enough.
01:28With all that said, his signing in Seattle could end up being the key that unlocks
01:33the Vikings' backup quarterback spot, Sam Howell.
01:37The Seattle Seahawks traded third and fifth round picks for fourth and sixth round picks
01:41to the Washington Commanders. The idea was, hey, Howell can be our developmental guy.
01:46He can be our backup. Well, the one game he got to play extensively against the Green Bay Packers
01:50in December, he was a disaster. It was rough. Howell has a little bit of a slow processing ability,
01:59and he takes a lot of sacks. In his one full year as a starter in 2023, 65 sacks,
02:06one of the highest totals in NFL history. Now, why would the Vikings want that?
02:10Well, Howell's also young. He's only 24 years old. About to go into his fourth season in the
02:16National Football League after starting for three years at the University of North Carolina.
02:22Now, Kevin O'Connell's quarterback school is quarterback rehab. Howell's the perfect kind
02:30of guy because he's a gamer. He's kind of got that Baker Mayfield energy where you just know that
02:35he's going to do everything that he can in order to win the football game. Is that going to
02:39manifest in wins? Oh, it hasn't yet, but that's the kind of player you want to have on your roster
02:46because, hey, this is a gamer. He's somebody I can trust to at least, you know, have the legs as well
02:53to keep me in football games. And with O'Connell's ability to elevate players, including the Josh Dobbs
03:00mania from a couple years ago, Howell is a perfect candidate. You can teach some of the little
03:07nuances and elevate those factors. You can't teach the things that a backup should have. The wheels,
03:13the grit, the toughness. And you know what? He could soon be available because they might not want to
03:21keep Sam Howell as their true backup when they already have Drew Locke on the roster and Jaron Hall
03:27is still out there, too. I'm Tyler Fornes with A to Z Sports. It's Cole Vikings.