Commanders’ Ron Rivera shares interesting Sam Howell, Jacoby Brissett update

Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera likes where young quarterback Sam Howell is during training camp but isn’t ready to make free-agency signing Jacoby Brissett the club’s backup quite yet. 

“I think to me it’s right now, this is all the growth and development opportunity,” Rivera said Thursday about Howell, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. “This is a chance to learn the base fundamentals of our offense. And he’s been doing it since (organized team activities) and minicamp…What you really need to look for is when we get on the field, when we do game plan, when we do prepare. I know it’s just preseason games, but those are going to be paramount to telling everybody where he is, what’s his growth.” 

It’s long been thought Howell began the summer months as Washington’s unnamed QB1 who had a “significant” lead over Brissett in a competition set to run through at least some portion of the preseason. However, it was reported in July that Rivera is “definitely not all-in” on starting the unproven 2022 fifth-round draft pick in the Week 1 matchup versus the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 10 if Brissett looks like the better option throughout this month. 

Rivera was sure to say fans and analysts, alike, should not “sleep on Jacoby” to win the job when all is said and done. 

“I mean, we got some really good quarterback play going on right now,” Rivera continued. “We’ve got a real good quarterback room. We’re very happy with what we’ve got right now. And again, we just want to continue to see the growth.” 

Howell attempted only 19 passes as a rookie and completed 57.9% of those throws for 169 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He’ll need to improve upon those numbers beginning when Washington opens its preseason calendar at the Cleveland Browns on Aug. 11 to stay above Brissett on the depth chart until Rivera announces his final decision.