90 Prospects in 90 Days: North Carolina QB Sam Howell

Each day leading up to the 2022 NFL Draft, we will take a look at prospects that should be on the Carolina Panthers' radar. We will look at roughly thirteen prospects per round to give a better idea of potential draftees beyond just the first round.

Here's our schedule for the next 80 days:

1st Round: Jan 28th - Feb 11th (15 players)

2nd Round: Feb 12th - Feb 24th (13 players)

3rd Round: Feb 25th - Mar 9th (13 players)

4th Round: Mar 10th - Mar 22nd (13 players)

5th Round: Mar 23rd - Apr 4th (13 players)

6th Round: Apr 5th - Apr 17th (12 players)

7th Round: Apr 18th - 28th (11 players)

Prospect No. 19: QB Sam Howell

College: North Carolina

Height: 6'0"

Weight: 212

Draft range: 1st-2nd round

Analysis: I was very high on Sam Howell during his freshman season. He already had the look of a future first round pick that was only going to get better over time. Unfortunately, I didn't see him take his game to the next level in each of the past two seasons. He had turnover issues at times and would also hold onto the ball. I know Panthers fans won't like hearing this, but he reminds me a lot of Will Grier coming out of college. That's not to say that he won't have a better career in the NFL but when you turn the tape on, I see a lot of the same deficiencies in their game. If I were a GM, I wouldn't take Howell in the first round. If he is still there late in the second, possibly early third, then sure.

Analysis from NFL Draft Bible on Sports Illustrated:

Pros: Very accurate passer who throws to leverage and away from defenders. Howell makes easy throws look easy underneath and has a pretty deep ball with lots of air underneath it to drop it over the shoulder into the bucket. He is very poised in the pocket, hanging in there for a long time. Quickness in the pocket allows him to move laterally and avoid the rush. Howell steps up into the pocket and finds lanes to step up into to get deep balls out from a muddy pocket. Keeping his eyes downfield allows him to locate targets on the move. He finds an uncontained edge and escapes quickly, displaying his acceleration and scrambling ability which bails him out of tough spots. Howell knows when to attack certain routes such as outs and gets the ball there reliably.

Cons: Possessing just average arm strength and velocity, Howell does not wow when driving the football. His deep passes can travel for very long, letting safeties come over and make a play on them. He tends to get late to his targets over the middle, causing them to get hit. Howell gets passes batted at the line and deflected by underneath defenders as he is unable to get over them, lacking height. He takes too many sacks because he fails to identify blitzes pre-snap and does not have an internal clock. Has a narrow base and gets a lazy backfoot, not rotating his lower body around. Howell flips the ball in his hands to find the laces. He does not always slide as a runner.

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