5 winners and losers from Seattle Seahawks 2023 training camp Week 2

Winner No. 2 - Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith

I recently posted about how Geno Smith seemed to be a divisive figure among 12s, but I didn't understand why. I stand by what I wrote. At no point, though, did I make the case that Smith is a perfect quarterback because he isn't. Even Patrick Mahomes isn't a perfect QB. But for those who don't like Smith, I might ask if they would rather have had more than half the other quarterbacks in the NFL in 2022 over Smith. Heck, would they rather have Russell Wilson back?

Smith isn't perfect, but he was good enough to lead the Seattle Seahawks to the playoffs and there aren't many other quarterbacks that would have last year. He knows the offense extremely well, he throws a much better deep pass than most thought he could have, he led the NFC in touchdown passes last year, and he was better than any other option Seattle could have had last year or this.

Again, the argument isn't that Smith is a top-five quarterback, but maybe top ten in Shane Waldron's system. He was also good enough to get Seattle to the playoffs last year with his on-field play and the fact that his teammates clearly wanted him to succeed. Being well-respected by one's teammates is an underrated trait. If players want to play for each other that is something that can be coached and a motivating factor that can get a team a couple of victories more than expected.

But in Seattle's mock game last week, Geno Smith was crisp with his passes and looked in complete control. In fact, he looked ready to be better this year than last. Also, for the argument that he was going up against second-teamers, that's true. But you can bet a lot of those second-teamers are going to have an impact of whether the Seahawks win or lose several games in 2023.