Seahawks acquire QB Sam Howell in trade with Commanders - ESPN

The Seattle Seahawks acquired quarterback Sam Howell in a trade with the Washington Commanders on Thursday.

Seattle received Howell, a fourth-round draft pick (No. 102 overall) and a sixth-rounder (No. 179) in exchange for picks in the third (No. 78) and fifth (No. 152) rounds. The third-rounder the Seahawks are giving up is their own — they have an extra pick in the round via a trade with the Denver Broncos last April.

The Howell trade is pending a physical.

During his weekly radio show on Thursday, Seahawks general manager John Schneider said «several» other teams were involved in possibly trading for Howell and that Seattle is acquiring him to be Geno Smith's backup — not to compete with Smith for the starting job.

«He had a great day against us this past fall,» Schneider told Seattle Sports 710-AM. «He's a quarterback but he's really a football player. That's what I love about him. Really tough, young. He's 23 years old and has 18 starts in the league already. He's the same age as like [Jayden] Daniels from LSU and [Spencer] Rattler and [Michael] Penix [Jr.], and he's a year younger than Bo Nix.

»We were just really excited to be able to acquire him. We know he's a serious dude. He's into it, he works his tail off. We got great reviews on him and we loved him coming out of college. So yeah, we're happy to get him in the mix. Geno's the guy and Sam will be backing him up."

Howell, who started for Washington last season, threw for 312 yards and three touchdowns in a loss to the Seahawks in November.

Howell solidifies the Seahawks' quarterback depth after Drew Lock agreed to sign with the New York Giants in free agency. Smith and Howell are the only quarterbacks on Seattle's roster.

Howell has two years and $2.085