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The Minnesota Vikings have approached free agency in a very calculated way over the last few weeks.
Not only did they add multiple high-end players in the trenches on both sides of the football, but general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah also did a great job in preserving the high-end compensatory draft picks they are projected to get.
After making a bevy of moves, there is still one move they need to make: backup quarterback.
Sam Howell could be the next Vikings backup QB
On Friday, we saw the backup quarterback pool dwindle significantly with the Cleveland Browns re-signing Joe Flacco and the Seattle Seahawks signing Drew Lock after he spent a season with the New York Giants. It wasn't much of a surprise from the Browns with Deshaun Watson likely to miss the entire season, but it was the Seahawks who surprised us.
Lock going back to Seattle is a surprise, especially since they chose to move on from him after the 2023 season. Now, Lock did have a path to getting on the field in New York, which he did. It also speaks to what the regime thinks of the current backup quarterback Sam Howell.
Last off-season, the Seahawks acquired Howell from the Washington Commanders for a pick swap. They acquired third and fifth-round picks in exchange for fourth and sixth-round picks. Howell did get on the field against the Green Bay Packers, and he was not very good, leading to a Seahawks loss, and that game was a key reason why they missed the playoffs.
With Lock back in the fold and Howell not having any guaranteed money left on his contract, he could end up either being traded with a pick swap on day three or just released. The Vikings could show interest in Howell with his gunslinger mentality, something that head coach Kevin O'Connell could harness. He could be the Vikings' next Nick Mullens.
Bleacher Report's scouting report on Howell highlights multiple positives and negatives about him as a passer, especially with .
Sam Howell is a tough quarterback with a good, strong build but below-average height for the position. He throws a very catchable deep ball and is able to get distance while also consistently getting a high arc on deep throws. Howell has good overall arm strength and flashes the ability to drive the ball when in rhythm on shorter and intermediate throws.
Being in rhythm is important for Howell. His footwork is inconsistent, which causes balls to spray, or he will take an extra bounce at the end of his dropback that makes him late on more timing-based throws. Howell will also attempt to work deep in his dropbacks to give himself more room to see his routes develop, attempting to compensate for his height. And while he has enough arm strength to make the throws, he has a longer, over-the-top throwing motion that will give him even less room for error in the NFL against better and faster defenders.
That sounds appealing, but he took a league-high 65 sacks when he started 17 games for the Commanders in 2023. That's been a big issue for him throughout his career. It's something that O'Connell has found a way to maneuver around, though, as Sam Darnold held the ball for a long period of time.
It's far from a guarantee that Howell will be the next Vikings' backup quarterback, but there is a pathway to making it happen.
More must-reads:
- Details emerge on injury to Cowboys star wide receiver
- Are Giants making quarterback change for Chargers game?
- The 'Multiple 30-TD pass NFL seasons' quiz
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Chiefs' Andy Reid addresses latest sideline incident involving Travis Kelce
A familiar scene played out at MetLife Stadium on Sunday night when Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce had a heated sideline exchange with head coach Andy Reid in the second quarter of the club's 22-9 win over the New York Giants that improved the Chiefs to 1-2 on the season. Following the victory, Reid suggested his relationship with Kelce is just fine. Andy Reid downplays latest Travis Kelce incident "Don’t make too much of it," Reid said, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. "He’s a passionate guy, and I love that part. I’ve been through a lot of things with him, so that’s all part of it. I love that he loves to play the game. That’s what I love. It’s an emotional game, so I’ll take it." Kelce went viral during the Chiefs' Super Bowl LVIII win in February 2024 when he angrily confronted and bumped Reid after the future Hall of Famer was not on the field for a red-zone play that resulted in a Kansas City turnover. Kelce later revealed that he and Reid "kind of chuckled about" that particular moment, and the 35-year-old then vowed last September that he would avoid such in-game outbursts. Kelce had a rather unspectacular performance against the Giants, as he recorded four receptions for just 26 yards. Andy Reid OK with Travis Kelce's passion "I love Travis' passion, so I’m OK with that," Reid added. "We didn’t have enough of it in the second quarter. We weren’t where we needed to be. He knows when to back off the pedal, and he knows when to push it too. That’s part of what I love about him. The guy’s all-in. Just sometimes, I have to be the policeman. He was all-in. He was all-in. Listen, he’s an emotional guy." Kelce may be in the early stages of his final season as an active player after he and entertainment superstar Taylor Swift announced their engagement in August. Thus far, he has tallied 10 catches for 134 yards and a touchdown for the ongoing campaign. Perhaps Sunday night's events will prove to be a positive for a Chiefs team that looked more like pretenders than contenders over the bulk of the season's first three weeks. Kansas City next hosts the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 28. 1-1 Baltimore welcomes the 1-1 Detroit Lions to M T Bank Stadium for a prime-time showdown on Monday night.
Steelers' Once Promising Third-Year Defender Could Be Relegated On The Depth Chart
The Pittsburgh Steelers have begun the 2025 NFL season with a 2-1 record, however there are some things that need to be figured out. The defense is shaky at best despite forcing five turnovers in Sunday's win over the New England Patriots in Week 3. The group still struggles to get off of the field on possession downs, and stopping the run has been an issue throughout the first three weeks of the season. A lot of that starts with the front seven and the interior defensive line. Pittsburgh has been banged up in that area, but some healthy contributors returning could shake up the lineup. Pittsburgh was able to see the regular season debut of Derrick Harmon on Sunday. The organization selected Harmon in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, but he suffered a sprained MCL in the preseason finale which kept him on the sidelines throughout the first two weeks of the regular season. He made an impact while serving in a limited role on Sunday against New England as he recorded a sack and two total tackles, and he is expected to help the run defense in the near future. Team insider Mark Kaboly spoke about the interior defensive line after the game on Sunday on the most recent episode of Kaboly + Mack, and he believes there will be two rookies starting in that area very soon. "They made some moves there, and it was able to help them out," Kaboly said. "That's a definite difference in what they were able to do. And I think it's just a matter of time until Yahya Black, Derrick Harmon and Cam Heyward's your one, two and three across the front. It's just a matter of time." Currently, Cam Heyward and Yahya Black are the starting defensive tackles for Pittsburgh while Keeanu Benton has been the starting nose tackle. That is the part of the lineup that will be shuffled, as Benton will likely switch to being a rotational piece, while Harmon enters the starting lineup. He will likely takeover the duties at defensive tackle, while Black shuffles to nose tackle. Benton was expected to take a leap forward going into his second season in 2024, but that didn't necessarily happen. He has made some big plays for Pittsburgh, but he has not been the consistent force that the organization had hoped he would be to this point. There was hope he would improve once again during the 2025 season, but if anything, the third-year pro has shown some regression since his rookie season. Moving to a rotational role where he can fill in at both defensive tackle and nose tackle might be best for Benton at this point. He doesn't necessarily have the size to be a true nose tackle in the NFL, so the coaching staff in Pittsburgh has seemingly been setting him up for failure a little bit in that regard. He would likely play better at defensive tackle, which is something the coaching staff could find out if the starting defensive line gets shuffled. Steelers Need To See Keeanu Benton Step Up No matter what role he is serving, Benton needs to play better moving forward. The interior defensive line is a key part of stopping the run, and Pittsburgh has struggled to do that. It is going to be hard to win meaningful games if that problem persists, especially against the better teams in the NFL that show up on the schedule later in the year. Benton needs to show some signs of progression, whether that be as a starter, or as someone who rotates in with the starting lineup throughout a game. Benton can still have a future in Pittsburgh, but he is going to need to improve in 2025 while setting himself up for success in 2026.
Pete Carroll opens up about an idea that everyone has regarding the biggest issue with the team's offense
The worst part about the Las Vegas Raiders offense has to be the offensive line, a position group that the Raiders didn't address really at all outside of the 2025 NFL Draft, and even those two draft picks aren't seeing the field. The offensive line hasn't been great at pass blocking for former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith, but that isn't the worst part of the unit's game. They can't run block at all, which is why Ashton Jeanty isn't having much success. And that could be due to the changes the Raiders staff made to the offensive line. The right guys aren't playing. "We want to see JPJ [Jackson Powers-Johnson] come back to action and get back involved. In all phases of it, we have to get off the football better and make more of the running game. There's not enough happening there to act on the play pass game, and we're just not getting enough. So, we just got to keep working it. We got the guys we got, and we need to keep developing and keep building on it. We're working at the right guard spot. Our young guys, they'll get their turn sometime, but they're not ready yet. So, we have what we have, and we've got to make our guys do better, and we've got to fit it together better than we have." The Raiders' offensive line has much deeper issues at hand JPJ didn't start the game against the Washington Commanders this last week, despite being healthy and recovered from his concussion. Carroll noted that the decision between him and Cappa came down to the continuity and that the Raiders were on a short week. But Cappa is not very good. The former Cincinnati Bengals guard led the league in blown blocks with 40 and led the league in pressures allowed last season. Last year, Jackson Powers-Johnson was one of the best young centers in the league. He had his rookie moments, but by the end of the season, he had some moments where he was pancaking defenders in the second level on run plays. His move to center last season is when he really started to take over, rather than when he was playing guard. This offseason, the Raiders decided to not only move him away from the center position but to put him in a position battle at the guard spot. JPJ may be the second-best offensive lineman on the team, and yet, the Raiders have something weird going on with him. Yes, he was hurt, but he recovered, and there is no reason why he shouldn't have started. By the end of last season, the Raiders' offensive line really started to put things together. So, why would Pete Carroll's son, Brennan Carroll, mess all of that up as the offensive line coach? Something's going on with the offensive line, and it's truly affecting the entire offense. Yes, the unit isn't very good, but they are making it even harder on themselves by playing the wrong players. When your defense is bad, offense is bad, and special teams are bad, it's hard to beat anyone. Add that into the fact that the offensive line is atrocious and winning football games looks impossible, despite the fact they've already won one against the New England Patriots. window.addEventListener('message', function (event) {if (event.data.totalpoll event.data.totalpoll.action === 'resizeHeight') {document.querySelector('#totalpoll-iframe-365').height = event.data.totalpoll.value;}}, false);document.querySelector('#totalpoll-iframe-365').contentWindow.postMessage({totalpoll: {action: 'requestHeight'}}, '*');
Packers’ Solution for Chronic Penalties Begins Wednesday
The Green Bay Packers were guilty of 14 penalties during Sunday’s loss to the Cleveland Browns, the most during coach Matt LaFleur’s tenure. The penalties bothered LaFleur, whose teams typically have played with excellent discipline, but they didn’t surprise him. “Yeah, I’ve seen it,” LaFleur said on Monday, a day after a shocking 13-10 defeat. “It’s been happening more than we’d like. You see it in practice, it’s hard not to expect it in a game. We have got to dial in better. We have to have better focus and concentration.” Dialing in isn’t only about Sundays. With another road game coming up on Sunday night at Dallas, the focus has to start when the team walks onto the practice field on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Sunday’s game was the 103rd of LaFleur’s career. His team had been flagged more than 10 times in just three games, with the previous worst being 12 penalties against the Lions in 2020. Guilty of only two false-start infractions in the first two games, the Packers were flagged five times against the Browns. “Some of those are brutal,” LaFleur said. “We had two on third down. One was on that third-and-4 [by Jordan Morgan in the red zone]. We had one [by Morgan] on the short-yardage situation when we tried to bring Tuck(er Kraft) in there and run the quarterback sneak. Third-and-1, you can’t have that. “The other one [by Rasheed Walker] was a third-and-10 late in the game when we’re trying to set up for a field goal; that pushed us back 5 yards. Yeah, you can’t have them. Those are killer penalties. Another one was on second-and-1 [by Walker], now it’s second-and-6. You can’t have them because they are killer.” There were so many false starts that LaFleur couldn’t remember them all. No. 5 was by receiver Malik Heath, which helped knock a promising possession out of field-goal range in the secon quarter. “And then conversely on the defensive side,” LaFleur continued, “we had a bunch of penalties on third down that extended drives. I remember one specifically, third-and-9, [defensive holding by Javon Bullard] and we had another third-and-goal [pass interference by Keisean Nixon]. “They didn’t kill us in those situations – we ended up overcoming them and moving them back, and they ended up settling for a field goal – but we have got to be better just with our details, our fundamentals and then utilizing the techniques that we practice on a daily basis.” Pending the Monday night game between the Lions and Ravens, the Packers were guilty of 28 penalties, tied for the fourth-most in the league. The yardage was more manageable with 192 yards, which ranked 12th. Only the Saints (eight) have been guilty of more false starts. “I feel like we were hurting ourselves more than anything with some of the penalties and the little things,” quarterback Jordan Love said after the game. “I felt like we were putting some good drives together but, at the end of the day, I feel like we just hurt ourselves a little too much.” It’s early in the season, but no team has been penalized more than Green Bay was against Cleveland. That came on the heels of 10 accepted penalties against Washington in Week 2. The 14 penalties vs. Cleveland were the most for the Packers since they were guilty of a franchise-record 18 in a loss at Chicago in 2020. In the Super Bowl era, there’s only been one other occasion in which Green Bay was flagged more than 14 times, according to Stathead. From 2019 through 2024 – the first six seasons of the LaFleur era – the Packers were guilty of the sixth-fewest penalties, according to Stathead. Including offsetting and declined penalties, Green Bay was flagged 17 times on Sunday. Incredibly, 10 came in the fourth quarter, capped by Nixon jumping offside on the game-ending field goal. “It’s discipline. It’s every facet of this game,” said defensive end Micah Parsons, who was flagged twice for offside. “Every detail – kickoff, field goal, defense, being in our right position, our right leverage. It’s everything. “Discipline will beat talent every day of the week. We were more talented. Like I said, we played better the first three quarters. We got to play better in the fourth quarter, including me. It goes for everyone.”
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