On a normal Saturday, I would probably struggle to stay awake during the second quarter of a Seahawks exhibition game.
Last week, however, the Hawks had my attention.
More specifically, backup quarterback Sam Howell was busy demonstrating some useful skills that, strange as it may seem, reminded me of a car ride.
This was a few years ago and I was on my way from Green Bay to Milwaukee to catch a flight.
Good luck anyway.
Ron Wolf, one of the most brilliant NFL executives of all time, was making the same trip and offered me a ride.
The journey took about two hours and was like a master’s course on decision-making in professional sports.
It was amazing to learn how Wolf approached big-money trades, and I got to hear the story of perhaps his best one – how he got quarterback Brett Favre out of Atlanta in exchange for a mid-priced draft pick.
Wolf knew that Falcons coach Jerry Glanville didn’t like Favre, and at one point during their only season together, Glanville told him, “You’re not going to make it. You’re going to keep drinking beer and eating chicken, and when you get out of this league, you’re going to look like a defensive player.”
IT IS A great story, unless you’re Jerry Glanville and you traded a Hall of Fame quarterback for a sack of kicking tees.
Anyway, while driving with Ron Wolf, I asked him, “How do you find a special quarterback? What do you notice that others miss? What are you looking for?”
Wolf responded that there were several things that stood out about a potential star quarterback, but that he couldn’t really explain.
“You notice courage and self-confidence,” said Wolf when I brought up our conversation again a few years later.
“They all have great arms. But the special guys like Favre are absolutely convinced that they will win – and they make everyone else in the group believe in it too.”
This second discussion with Wolf about quarterbacks came about because Seahawks president John Schneider is credited with the same magical ability to spot remarkable talent before anyone else.
Schneider is called the “quarterback whisperer” by his colleagues and is still annoyed that he didn’t have a chance to recruit Patrick Mahomes.
He had hoped most teams would pass on the Texas Tech gunslinger, but no – Kansas City GM Brett Veach traded 17 spots (with Buffalo) to get Mahomes.
Schneider made similar comments to Wolf when he talked about finding the “franchise quarterback” that the other teams are somehow missing.
Remember, Schneider and Pate Carroll took Russell Wilson—and won a Super Bowl—when other executives thought Wilson was too small to be an effective passer in the NFL.
My gut feeling about quarterbacks tells me I can trust John Schneider.
I think he has a gift for finding the truly talented and, more importantly, the people who are going to be the winners in the long run.
OK, LET’S bring all this together.
This means we have to go back to Saturday’s exhibition game between the Seahawks and the Titans.
Like almost every other preseason matchup in which players hoped to land a job in the NFL, this game was essentially meaningless to the general public.
Except.
I mentioned that I noticed the drive just before halftime.
What caught my eye was Hawks backup quarterback Sam Howell leading his guys to a last-second field goal like a ten-year veteran.
I’m not as smart as Ron Wolf or John Schneider, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Howell will ultimately be the Seahawks’ long-term quarterback.
Yes, he could sit behind Geno Smith this year (although I don’t think that’s guaranteed for the entire year), but I believe this will be Sam’s team.
Everything will fit together perfectly.
Howell is only 23 and has been under contract in Seattle for three years, although he played a full season in Washington last year (where he struggled in an offense that didn’t suit him).
With good coaching and a tailored strategy plan, Howell will be the Seahawks’ next successful quarterback.
This sounds silly, but I saw it in a friendly match.
This is the first time I have learned something in any of them.
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Steve Cameron’s Cheap Seats columns appear four times a week in The Press, usually Tuesday to Friday unless there is something happening.
Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”
