Seahawks QB Geno Smith: To extend or not to extend

So, the Seattle Seahawks have a good offense this year. Who would have guessed?

In particular, no one would have expected that Geno Smith would be playing like one of the better quarterbacks in all of football. But that’s exactly what he’s been to this point, leading the league in completion percentage by a massive margin, with no other qualified QB even within seven percent of him.

Furthermore, Seattle’s offense is flowing better than it has since Marshawn Lynch and Doug Baldwin were terrorizing defenses on all levels of the field. Despite running the fifth-fewest plays on offense in the league, the Seahawks are third in yards per play, meaning that the defense’s inability to get off the field could be hindering the offense from scoring even more.

Should the Seahawks extend quarterback Geno Smith past 2022?

So, how much of this newfound success can be placed on Geno’s shoulders? At first glance, it might seem a bit unfair to heap such praise on Smith, in part because Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas have been such unmitigated revelations for the Seahawks’ offensive line. Another factor might be the addition of Noah Fant as a premier pass-catching option in the middle of the field.

And, of course, there’s a clear argument to be made that the Seahawks’ offense has really only been tested once thus far — the trip to Santa Clara in week 2 that saw the 49ers systematically dismantle Seattle’s offense. All three are valid counterpoints to the stats without context, as gaudy as they may be.

But do they outweigh what the numbers say? Do they match up to the critical eye?