Sam Howell (QB, WAS) - Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 5

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 18% of Leagues

ANALYSIS: Sam Howell entered the 2023 NFL season as the ultimate wildcard. No one knew what to expect of him as he prepared to become the starting QB of a Washington franchise who were desperate for their first winning record since 2015.

So far, Howell's numbers have been badly deflated due to a disastrous Week 3 performance against Buffalo, but apart from that game, Howell has delivered, even though his team hasn't done much to help him out. The main point that proves this is Howell's sacks taken. He has taken 24 sacks so far this season, which is on pace to break David Carr's record for the most sacks taken by a player in a single season.

SAM HOWELL TODAY:

290 Passing Yards
40 Rushing Yards
1 Touchdown
0 Interceptions
98 QBR

He also has 961 passing yards on the season, the most out of any NFC East QB.

King of the East REIGNS SUPREME! pic.twitter.com/Z7V5Z4vmZ7

— Billy Tinkle (@BillyTinkleNuts) October 1, 2023

While it's true that he holds the ball to try and make explosive plays, we can't pretend that his O-Line has been amazing. The same applies to his receiving targets as well. One of the reasons for Howell constantly looking downfield has been the very low number of YAC (yards after the catch) that his players have generated.

His pass completions have just generated 4.3 YAC on average, which ranks him in the bottom four among QBs who have started all four games. This is why he hasn't been able to rely on short passes. Despite this, he ranked as the QB12 in the first two weeks and finished as the QB12 last week as well.

However, due to his youth and inexperience, we can expect Howell to progress and speed up the internal clock in his head, which will greatly reduce the number of sacks taken. He is also very new to Eric Bieniemy's plays and scheme, which is something that can only improve over time. Bieniemy called more quick passes against Philadelphia in their last game, and Howell managed to dump the ball off quicker, which is a very encouraging sign. Howell has a very easy game coming up next week against the hapless Chicago Bears, who have allowed the fourth-most fantasy points to QBs this season (25.3).

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