The Commanders appear to be on the precipice of major change this offseason and a coaching change could be followed by a quarterback change.
Sam Howell has started every game this season and he’s had some good performances, but his play has sagged along with the rest of the team during a five-game losing streak and Jacoby Brissett replaced him during last Sunday’s loss to the Rams. Howell will start against the Jets this Sunday in what is shaping up to be the start of a three-week audition for 2024 and he was asked at a Wednesday press conference about how much he’s thinking about the future heading into the game.
“I honestly don’t really look at it much,” Howell said. “It really doesn’t mean anything right now and I think what matters is how I play each and every week. Obviously, you can worry all year long about what’s going to happen next year, but for me, I just kind of take the approach of taking it one week at a time and really try to focus in and do everything I can on a week-to-week basis to play my best football. Just because obviously there’s a lot of questions about what’s going to happen after this year, but I feel like if I’m playing my best football at a consistent rate, then those questions won’t be there. That’s just kind of the way I look at it. I’m just going to try to keep doing what I can to play good football and put good film on tape these last three games.”
It’s hard to assess what the future will hold for Howell until the Commanders make their call on head coach Ron Rivera and the overall direction of the franchise, but it’s not the sure thing the team hoped it would be when the season got underway.
