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Samuel Duke Howell (born September 16, 2000) is an American professional football quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the North Carolina Tar Heels, setting school records for most touchdown passes in a single season (38) as well as career passing yards (10,283) and touchdown passes (92).
Howell was selected by the Washington Commanders in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL draft, starting the final game of the season. In 2023, he threw for 3,900 yards while leading the league in and Quarterback sack. Howell was traded to the Seattle Seahawks in 2024, and then to the Minnesota Vikings in April of 2025 before being traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in August of 2025.
The second-ranked recruit in North Carolina, Howell originally committed to play college football at Florida State University (FSU) but flipped to the University of North Carolina (UNC) after FSU offensive coordinator Walt Bell left the program to pursue other coaching opportunities and Mack Brown was hired as UNC's head coach.
Howell was named the ACC Rookie of the Year after completing 259 of 422 passes for 3,641 yards with 38 touchdowns, a freshman FBS record. His yardage and touchdown totals were also the highest in the conference on the year, earning third-team All-ACC honors in addition. Howell was also named the 2019 Military Bowl MVP after throwing for three touchdowns with a touchdown catch in a 55–13 win over Temple.
On the last play of overtime against Pittsburgh, he suffered an injury to his non-throwing shoulder which caused him to miss the following game against Wofford. He made his return the following week in a 34–30 loss to NC State, throwing for 147 yards, one touchdown, and an interception alongside two rushing touchdowns. He finished the season throwing for 3,056 with 24 touchdowns while rushing for 828 yards with 11 touchdowns. He graduated in December 2021 and announced that he would forgo his remaining college eligibility to enter the 2022 NFL draft. Howell would finish his Tar Heel career throwing for 92 touchdown passes and 10,283 yards, both school records. He threw at least one touchdown pass in every game he played in college.
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Howell made his first career start and played in his first career game in week 18 of the 2022 season after the team had been eliminated from playoff contention. He completed 11-of-19 passes for 169 yards and recorded a passing and rushing touchdown in a 26–6 win over the Dallas Cowboys. He would remain the starting quarterback for the 2023 season, beating out Jacoby Brissett in training camp. In week 3, Howell threw four interceptions and was sacked nine times in a 37–3 loss to the Buffalo Bills. By mid-November, he led the NFL in passing yards with over 2,700 while on pace to break the single-season sack record by a quarterback, taking 40 in the first seven games.
In week 15 against the Los Angeles Rams, Howell was benched in favor of Brissett in the fourth quarter after only managing to accrue 11 completions out of 26 pass attempts, one touchdown, and one interception. Howell started the following week against the New York Jets, but would be benched in the third quarter after recording 56 yards on 6 pass completions and two interceptions. He was benched for the week 17 game for Brissett. However, Brissett injured his hamstring during practice, thrusting Howell back into the starting role. Howell finished the regular season starting all 17 games with 3,946 passing yards and 21 touchdowns. He also threw 21 interceptions and took 65 sacks, both of which led the NFL.
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