Sam Howell is traveling into the unknown on what is likely to be the longest move he will ever undertake in the United States: from Washington, D.C. to Washington state.

With organized team activities (OTAs) starting in their second week, the third-year quarterback is starting to fully immerse himself in everything Seahawk.

However, he is aware that his role for the time being is backup to Geno Smith.

Howell stated there’s an unwritten book beyond that. Howell responded, “Honestly, not much,” when asked what the team had told him about his possible long-term position on Thursday. They simply advise me to never stop working and making an effort to improve every day.

I don’t worry too much about the future or what plans they may have for me because I’m taking each day as it comes. After all, who knows?

You simply need to take each day as it comes, do your best, and wait to see what transpires. Since joining the NFL in 2022 at the age of 21, Howell has witnessed a lot. He was selected by the Washington Commanders in the fifth round out of North Carolina.

He primarily lined up behind seasoned players Carson Wentz and Taylor Heinicke during his first season, but after Wentz was cut loose and he prevailed in a training-camp competition against Jacoby Brissett, he took the lead as the starter in 2023.

Then, Howell started all 17 games under first-year offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and threw for 3,946 yards, which was sixth most in the Washington team’s normally illustrious history. And he ran for 263 yards and five touchdowns, which is second most for a quarterback in team history.

In addition to throwing 21 touchdown passes, Howell also had the highest number of interceptions in the NFL with 21. It was a fitting representation of the Commanders’ 4-13 season, which saw them lose their final eight games. The team was taken over by new owners, and veteran coach Ron Rivera was sacked. Suddenly, the Commanders were in position to select second overall in the NFL draft.

There was no place for Howell, as Washington planned to use that pick to select a quarterback, finally choosing LSU’s Jayden Daniels, the Heisman Trophy winner, and signed Marcus Mariota, another Heisman winner, to provide senior leadership.

Howell began to think that he might be leaving as the offseason progressed. Once I began to realize that there was a chance I might be traded.

One of those locations I wanted to visit and become a part of was Seattle, Howell remarked.

This was partially due to Howell’s conversations with Pete Carroll’s staff prior to the 2022 draft, when the Seahawks were actively considering quarterback possibilities following the trade of Russell Wilson. This was also due to Howell’s first-hand experience at Lumen Field from the previous season, when he nearly pulled off an upset by throwing for 312 yards and three touchdowns. On a last-play field goal, Seattle prevailed instead.

I have never heard a stadium that loud before, he remarked, “I just remember we got the ball down seven in the fourth quarter.” “I believe we may have needed to use two driving timeouts because we were having trouble communicating.”

Indeed they did, though that didn’t stop Howell from tossing a touchdown pass that tied the score before the Seahawks pulled out the win.

When Howell heard in March he had been dealt to Seattle in what was essentially a swap of two mid-round draft picks — the Commanders moving into the third and fifth rounds and Seattle down to the fourth and sixth — he was “super excited.”