After Russell Wilson was traded after the 2021 season, many Seattle Seahawks fans questioned what the team might do next at the quarterback position. In the trade with the Denver Broncos for Wilson, Seattle added Drew Lock. The training camp battle between Lock and Geno Smith never truly unfolded, though.
Former head coach Pete Carroll liked Geno Smith, and the team knew Smith well. He had spent a few years as a backup and knew Seattle's playbook well. Smith also had a live arm and could make any throw on the field.
For three seasons, Smith was a good but not great quarterback for the Seahawks. While he had a lot of great skill position players around him, the team rarely reached a level slightly better than mediocre. One Raiders reporter has noticed and expects much of the same from Geno Smith in Las Vegas.
Raiders reporter pinpoints the good and bad of Geno Smith with the Seattle Seahawks
Tashan Reed of The Athletic (subscription required) wrote succinctly of Smith digression in three years with Seattle, "Several factors beyond Smith contributed to the falloff — there was a change in play caller, the offensive line was terrible, and the run game was ineffective — but it suggests that he can’t carry an anemic offense on his own."
Bingo!
Smith has great arm talent, and he is fairly mobile, too. His issues stemmed from his troublesome decision-making at times. While he could run well when he chose to do so, there were times when he clearly should have taken off and didn't. Like Russell Wilson before him, Geno Smith often looked for a splashy play when a safe one would have picked up a first down.
Last season, Smith made some atrocious throws in critical areas, especially in the red zone. He led the NFL in red zone interceptions, and one could argue that the Seahawks would have made the playoffs except for Smith's red zone meltdowns against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 9, one of which was returned 102 yards for a touchdown.
Geno Smith also kept Seattle in some games they might not otherwise have been in. This was always the catch-22 with the quarterback. He was good enough to win games that seemed lost, but bad enough at times that he snatched loss from the jaws of victory.
The same quarterback who led the league in fourth quarter comebacks in 2023 also had a TD-to-INT ratio of 17-15 entering the final game of last year. The Seahawks were not going to be terrible with Smith, but they weren't ever going to make deep runs in the playoffs either.
Do the Las Vegas Raiders have a better quarterback with Geno Smith than in previous years? Yes. Las Vegas might finish closer to breakeven with Smith. But just as with the Seattle Seahawks, Smith is going to set the team up for losses that otherwise would be wins.