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Sam Howell has been one of the best quarterbacks in the ACC since he suited up in a North Carolina Tar Heel uniform and in their offensive system he was a threat to score both with his arm as well as with his legs. At 6'1" and 220 lbs., Howell brings good athleticism, good arm talent, and leadership skills. Sam Howell has been a highlight reel in college football since his freshman year and he's been able to affect the game with both his arm and legs. Athletically Sam Howell brings enough mobility to make defense have to account for somewhat because he's shown in college that he's very capable of taking off and picking up good chunks of yards with his feet, especially in 2021 with 11 rushing touchdowns. He's quite elusive in the open field and can make defenders miss with some juke and spin moves and is very good about falling forward to pick up yards. He's a solid 220 lbs. and has run through weak arm tackles and he's a tough runner when he has to be. As a pocket passer, Howell does a good job of going through his progressions and usually hits his second or third before thinking about taking off. He has good throwing mechanics in the pocket and has shown himself to be a very accurate quarterback when he sets his feet and can see the field. He's very poised in the pocket when he can see the incoming blitzer and doesn't try to run at the first sign of trouble. He's very capable of coordinating an offense and recognizing mismatches early in a game and attacking a defense's weakness until they solve it. As an arm talent, he possesses very capable arm strength to effectively hit all three levels of the field. He delivers an accurate ball that has good touch to it and is very easy to catch. He's accurate at all three levels of the field with his intermediate and deep balls being his specialty given his spread offense. He's good at hitting his receivers in stride and providing his receivers with passers that are catchable rather than them having to adjust to passes. Sam Howell is a phenomenal leader on the football field and has been highly praised by his legendary head coach Mack Brown for his ability to rally his team when faced with adversity. When his team needs a play to keep a drive alive or win a game it's usually Howell that they look to for that to happen because he's very willing to sacrifice his body to make plays happen.
The North Carolina Tar Heels have had tremendous offensive talent on the roster for since Sam Howell had arrived with such players being Javonte Williams, Michael Carter, Dazz Newsome, and Dyami Brown and when those players left last season Howell's overall production dropped substantially which showed a reliance at times on his receivers and running game. The spread offense that the Tar Heels run does inflate his stats a bit as he's often hitting receivers wide open due to them creating mismatches in the secondary. His slightly undersized at 6'1" and that could mean that he might struggle to play in a drop back pro style offense when it comes to batted passes at the line. While he's not a terrible athlete, unless he has plenty of room to run for some or pick the line to gain I would expect him to be a dual threat quarterback nor would I want him making his legs a substantial part of his game because NFL players going to catch him with relative ease and he's certainly not afraid to take hits to help his team and keeping him clean from defenders will help his longevity. He has to have better pocket awareness and better navigation skills inside because too often he senses pressure and wants to run outside and learning how to maneuver and evade defenders without scrambling will help him greatly. The redzone is tricky for him when his field shrinks and the defenses coverages get tighter and when he gets pressured he can at times look to play hero ball and try to heave it into the end zone or take a bad sack and learning when to live another down will be crucial to his NFL success. He doesn't possess a howitzer for an arm and when throws balls deep they can lose their velocity a bit. His production in college was very spotty in 2021 and struggled mightily against good college football defenses. I don't know if he'd work in an offense outside of a spread offense and would need to likely develop for a season or two if a team drafts him and wants him to play in a different scheme.
Sam Howell could start shooting up draft boards if he has a good combine because his athleticism is part of his appeal and if he can make coaches believe that he can be a dual threat quarterback. Howell is a very capable thrower of the football that may need time to develop behind a quarterback if he doesn't get put into a spread offense scheme in the NFL. He's got temper his need to play hero ball on occasion and realize that in the NFL everybody on the field is a highly capable athlete that will run him down and potentially hurt him. If he can fix that and his other issues, I think he has potential to be a decent quarterback in the NFL.
The North Carolina Tar Heels have had tremendous offensive talent on the roster for since Sam Howell had arrived with such players being Javonte Williams, Michael Carter, Dazz Newsome, and Dyami Brown and when those players left last season Howell's overall production dropped substantially which showed a reliance at times on his receivers and running game. The spread offense that the Tar Heels run does inflate his stats a bit as he's often hitting receivers wide open due to them creating mismatches in the secondary. His slightly undersized at 6'1" and that could mean that he might struggle to play in a drop back pro style offense when it comes to batted passes at the line. While he's not a terrible athlete, unless he has plenty of room to run for some or pick the line to gain I would expect him to be a dual threat quarterback nor would I want him making his legs a substantial part of his game because NFL players going to catch him with relative ease and he's certainly not afraid to take hits to help his team and keeping him clean from defenders will help his longevity. He has to have better pocket awareness and better navigation skills inside because too often he senses pressure and wants to run outside and learning how to maneuver and evade defenders without scrambling will help him greatly. The redzone is tricky for him when his field shrinks and the defenses coverages get tighter and when he gets pressured he can at times look to play hero ball and try to heave it into the end zone or take a bad sack and learning when to live another down will be crucial to his NFL success. He doesn't possess a howitzer for an arm and when throws balls deep they can lose their velocity a bit. His production in college was very spotty in 2021 and struggled mightily against good college football defenses. I don't know if he'd work in an offense outside of a spread offense and would need to likely develop for a season or two if a team drafts him and wants him to play in a different scheme.
Sam Howell could start shooting up draft boards if he has a good combine because his athleticism is part of his appeal and if he can make coaches believe that he can be a dual threat quarterback. Howell is a very capable thrower of the football that may need time to develop behind a quarterback if he doesn't get put into a spread offense scheme in the NFL. He's got temper his need to play hero ball on occasion and realize that in the NFL everybody on the field is a highly capable athlete that will run him down and potentially hurt him. If he can fix that and his other issues, I think he has potential to be a decent quarterback in the NFL.