Panthers draft: Examining 3 big narratives surrounding Sam Howell
Sam Howell is the next Mitchell Trubisky
Unfortunately, fans and some media aren’t bright enough to disassociate two completely different players because they attended the same school. This narrative isn’t unique to Sam Howell, as you may recall, Justin Fields received similar doubts based on the precedent of lackluster Ohio State prospects that came before him.
Let’s dissect Mitchell Trubisky’s career before being taken second overall by the Chicago Bears in 2017.
Trubisky was a low four-start recruit from Ohio who ranked 206th nationally, sixth as a dual-threat quarterback and was the 11th ranked player in the Buckeye State. He committed to the University of North Carolina in 2012 in the first season of head coach Larry Fedora’s tenure.
The signal-caller redshirted in his first season (2013) and served as a backup to Marquise Williams for the next two seasons. Trubisky finally earned the starting job in 2016 and went 8-5 throwing for 3,748 yards, 30 touchdowns, and six interceptions in 13 games.
The “dual-threat” quarterback also rushed for 308 yards and five touchdowns in that season and would ultimately declare for the 2017 NFL Draft despite only throwing 572 pass attempts – Howell has almost double – throughout a three-year college career.
Despite concerns by several scouts that he couldn’t beat out Williams for the starting job during his time at North Carolina, some of the raw traits flashed by Trubisky during his one magical season catapulted him above Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson in the draft.
We all know the rest.
The 27-year old is now a backup for the Buffalo Bills and the Bears who drafted him just selected another quarterback in the first round in the 2021 NFL Draft.
The verdict? This one is downright silly.
Howell is a much more talented and experienced prospect than Trubisky was.
While both are “dual-threat” quarterbacks, Howell has shown more high-level traits as a passer and a runner including deep ball accuracy which was one of Trubisky’s weak points as a starter in Chicago. It’s also important to note that Howell played under hall of fame head coach Mack Brown – which is night and day compared to Trubisky’s years under Fedora.
Trubisky was overrated based on one good year and the intrigue of his potential. Howell was a highly rated, widely recruited high school prospect that became a record-breaking three-year college starter and the best quarterback in the program’s history.
There are no guarantees on what Howell will be as a pro, but the comparisons to Trubisky have to end and the Carolina Panthers should ignore the comparisons during their assessment of the prospect.