Let's get the good news out of the way first. After being injured in Week 15 versus the Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith should be able to practice this week which means he should be able to play against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 16. His knee showed no signs of structural damage, and Smith clearly wants to play and is physically capable of doing so.
That is a reason to be happy. As we saw against the Packers, Smith definitely gives the team the best chance of winning games. Backup Sam Howell was critically awful after being thrust into QB1 duties in the third quarter.
There might be some 12s who still hope Howell overtakes Smith to be the starting quarterback as, to some, Smith will never be anything more than a backup quarterback. He is far better than that, however. He completes a high percentage of his passes, has a great arm, and is mobile enough to be dangerous running the ball.
Geno Smith appears good to go for the Seattle Seahawks in Week 16
It is difficult in the NFL to come off the bench cold and immediately start completing passes and moving a team down the field. But if anyone watched Howell's performance and thought he was going to be long-term than Smith then they just dislike the current QB1 for the Seahawks with extreme malice.
Howell was indecisive and inaccurate, going five for 14 with an interception. He also held on to the ball for far too long.
Still, there is a downside to Smith coming back so quickly from injury, and that has to deal with the future of the team at the quarterback position. Had Smith, who if released next offseason would save the team $25 million, been forced to miss Week 16, Howell would have gotten QB1 reps in practice and been better-prepared to play a game. Then, Seattle could have a chance to fully evaluate Howell to see if the team might want to keep him past 2025, the final year of his current deal.
Smith's issue is not just how much the team would save if he isn't on the team next year. He has also made terrible decisions in the red zone this season.
In fact, Seattle likely has a victory over the Los Angeles Rams except for two awful red-zone picks thrown by Smith in Week 9. They were the kind of throws for an otherwise good quarterback that implies when a game is played late in the postseason, Smith will make costly mistakes that keep his team from moving forward toward a potential Super Bowl.
Howell might not be the answer long-term for the Seahawks, but the only way of knowing is seeing him play in real games. He not only looked like he was not worthy of being QB1 against the Packers, he seemed like he didn't even belong in the NFL. That might change if he is getting meaningful reps in practice.
Smith will turn 35 years old relatively early in the 2025 season. Signing him to a high-cost extension past next season when he will be entering his late 30s seems ridiculous. Seattle has some tough financial decisions to make in the offseason and one of them is what to do about Geno Smith. If the team wants to take a chance on Sam Howell next year, without him getting real reps in games the risk to have Howell be QB1 is huge.