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Kevin Seifert
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Kevin Seifert
ESPN Employees Author
- Kevin Seifert is a employees author who covers the Minnesota Vikings and the NFL at ESPN. Kevin has lined the NFL for over 20 years, becoming a member of ESPN in 2008. He was beforehand a beat reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Washington Instances. He’s a graduate of the College of Virginia.
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Brady Henderson
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Brady Henderson
ESPN
- Brady Henderson is a reporter for NFL Nation and covers the Seattle Seahawks for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2017 after masking the staff for Seattle Sports activities 710-AM.
The Seattle Seahawks have traded quarterback Sam Howell to the Vikings, Minnesota introduced Saturday.
The Vikings traded choose No. 142 within the fifth spherical to the Seahawks in trade for Howell and choose No. 172 within the fifth spherical.
Howell now turns into the doubtless backup to quarterback J.J. McCarthy. The Vikings even have quarterback Brett Rypien underneath contract.
Common supervisor Kwesi Adofo-Mensah didn’t rule out the Vikings buying one other quarterback however stated, “If the season began in the present day, we would be fired up in regards to the guys in that room.”
Adofo-Mensah added that the staff closely researched Howell earlier than the 2022 draft, three months after he and coach Kevin O’Connell had been employed. In the end, Howell was chosen within the fifth spherical by the Washington Commanders.
“We did not assume in that first 12 months collectively when Kevin and I received collectively, that was the correct time in our journey to make such an funding,” Adofo-Mensah stated. “We are saying lots that organizations fail quarterbacks lengthy earlier than quarterbacks fail organizations, and we did not need to be a kind of, the the explanation why any person did not [succeed], as a result of we weren’t prepared. We weren’t in the correct place to try this kind of factor.
“And so, we did not assume that was the correct time. However he was … a pure expertise and all these different issues we speak about, he was excessive up on our board however simply did not assume it was the correct time and place. And typically that occurs in life, that possibly an individual you are relationship just isn’t the correct time and place, however then in a while in life it occurs at a greater time.”
Seahawks basic supervisor John Schneider stated Saturday that conversations with the Vikings a few potential Howell commerce started on the league conferences that wrapped up earlier this month. The Seahawks had met with Drew Lock throughout their journey to South Florida and have been contemplating bringing him again.
They signed him two weeks later because the presumed No. 2 quarterback behind Sam Darnold.
A Howell commerce then appeared inevitable as soon as Seattle drafted Jalen Milroe within the third spherical Friday evening. With former Viking Jaren Corridor additionally within the combine, taking Milroe with the 92nd total choose gave the Seahawks 5 quarterbacks.
“After which we preferred the quarterbacks within the draft and we thought there was an opportunity which may occur,” Schneider stated. “There have been a number of groups that have been and Minnesota was the staff that ended up pulling the set off.”
Vikings senior vp of participant personnel Ryan Grigson famous that Howell began all 17 video games for the Commanders in 2023 and is just 24 years outdated.
“It is a chance that isn’t often that simple to come back by when you’ve got that kind of youth and that kind of expertise,” Grigson stated.
McCarthy opened the Vikings’ offseason program final week with no limitations from the torn proper meniscus he suffered in the course of the 2024 preseason that brought about him to overlook his total rookie 12 months. The Vikings have stopped wanting naming McCarthy their starter for 2025, however Adofo-Mensah stated final month that it is “the result we wish” and “the result we’re headed in direction of.”
The Vikings bid farewell to 3 quarterbacks who have been on their roster final season — Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones and Nick Mullens — though that they had hoped to signal Jones as McCarthy’s doubtless backup. Jones determined as a substitute to signal with the Indianapolis Colts, partly on the belief that McCarthy will nearly actually be the Vikings’ starter.
That led the Vikings to spend a number of days in severe inside discussions about the potential of signing free agent Aaron Rodgers, who had expressed curiosity throughout a telephone name with O’Connell. In the end, the Vikings determined to place these talks on maintain and permit McCarthy to maximise the staff’s reps throughout offseason practices.
O’Connell stated final week that the staff had a “fairly detailed plan” for including depth behind and round McCarthy and Rypien and talked about the potential of a commerce. Howell was a comparatively cheap acquisition, because the choose swap merely required the Vikings to maneuver down 30 spots within the fifth spherical.
Drafting Milroe and buying and selling Howell continues the remake of the Seahawks’ quarterback room. They traded starter Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders in March earlier than signing Darnold as his alternative, giving the previous No. 2 total choose a three-year, $100.5 million contract on the heels of his Professional Bowl season with the Vikings. Seattle then signed Lock to a two-year, $5 million deal, bringing again Smith’s former backup to fill the identical function behind Darnold.
Seattle acquired Howell in a March 2024 commerce with the Commanders, giving up third- and fifth-round alternatives for the quarterback and picks within the fourth and sixth rounds. The Seahawks beat out three different groups that have been additionally negotiating with the Commanders, a supply advised ESPN on the time.
Howell struggled badly in a reduction look for Smith in December. After Smith damage his knee halfway via the third quarter of a 30-13 loss to the Inexperienced Bay Packers, Howell accomplished 5 of 14 makes an attempt for twenty-four yards and an interception.
A fifth-round choose by Washington in 2022, Howell threw for 21 touchdowns and a league-high 21 interceptions in 2023. He additionally led the NFL with 612 makes an attempt, finishing 63.4% of them whereas throwing for 3,946 yards. The Commanders went 4-13, traded Howell to Seattle and drafted Jayden Daniels second total.
