Pros and cons of Geno Smith potentially being Seahawks long-term quarterback
Making the case for Geno Smith
While Geno Smith did not have as strong of a season in 2023 as he did in 2022, there is still so much to like. Smith finished 2023 playing in 15 games, throwing for 3,624 yards (64.7 completion percentage), with 20 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Considering the health, or lack thereof, of the offensive line, Smith’s toughness and performance in overcoming those circumstances should be commended.
While sometimes the generic stats don’t tell the whole story, there are some deep stats that show Smith is closer to being a championship-caliber QB than most people think. When it came to big-time throw rates, Geno Smith ranked second in the NFL at six percent and his Turnover-Worthy Play Rates ranked Smith 29th in the league at just 3.6 percent.
Why are these numbers important? Well, that’s because Geno Smith was better in both of these areas than former top overall pick Trevor Lawrence. This is the same Lawrence that just signed a five-year, $275 million extension with more than half of that money being fully guaranteed at signing. Smith is currently slated to have a $26.4 million cap hit in 2024. You can make a strong argument that as a stable starting quarterback, Smith has arguably the best value contract in the league for a player not on a rookie deal.
According to Jarrett Bailey of Sporting News, Smith was the only quarterback “with at least 15 attempts 25-plus yards downfield in 2023, Smith was the only one that had a catchable pass percentage of 80 percent or higher.”
Many of those types of throws came in the form of play-action passes, the one area where I did think Shane Waldron was slightly more creative than the plain chicken nuggets and crackers I give my toddler almost every day for lunch. In 2023, Smith was second in the NFL in completion rate at nearly 74 percent and eighth in passer rating at 111.6.
When you consider the guru of play-action dominance at the collegiate level is now running the Seahawks offense, the potential match between Geno and Ryan Grubb could be perfect. I wrote in February why I was high on the Grubb hire, as his 30.7 percent play-action rate that dominated college football, would have been the highest rate in the NFL this season. If he can truly bring this style of play to the Seahawks then Smith could be in for his biggest year yet.