Source: Raiders acquire QB Smith from Seattle
The Las Vegas Raiders have acquired quarterback Geno Smith in a trade with the Seattle Seahawks, a source confirmed to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
The trade reunites Smith with Pete Carroll, who coached Smith in Seattle from 2020 to 2023.
Smith is coming off an up-and-down 2024 season in which he passed for a career-best 4,320 yards, a franchise record, to go with 21 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.
While starting all 17 games, Smith also posted a completion rate of 70.4% (fifth), carrying an offense with an overmatched line and no consistent run game. He also led four game-winning drives, giving him nine over the past two seasons to tie Patrick Mahomes for the most in the NFL in that span.
Smith’s last game-winning drive came in the Seahawks’ Week 18 victory over the Los Angeles Rams, which capped a 10-7 debut season for coach Mike Macdonald that left Seattle out of the playoffs.
But Smith’s 15 interceptions were the third-most in the NFL, and his QBR of 53.8 (21st in NFL) was his lowest in three seasons as Seattle’s full-time starter. Four of his interceptions came in the red zone (most in NFL). He was sacked 50 times (third-most).
“Geno’s our quarterback,” Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said last month, one of several time he publicly endorsed the quarterback since the end of last season. “I don’t understand the conversation. It’s pretty obvious this guy is a heck of a quarterback. He’s our quarterback. We love him. Can’t wait to go to work with him.”
Smith ranks 21st in Total QBR over the past two seasons. He had the league’s seventh-best QBR in 2022, when he made the Pro Bowl, was named AP Comeback Player of the Year and led the Seahawks to a wild-card berth after taking over as Seattle’s starter in the wake of the Russell Wilson trade.
The Seahawks re-signed Smith to a three-year, $75 million contract in March 2023. That deal gave him the opportunity to make an additional $30 million via contract escalators. Smith hit $6 million of those escalators with his performance last season. That $6 million was added onto the $10 million roster bonus Smith was set to earn on March 16.
Smith unsuccessfully argued for a new deal last offseason after seeing several other quarterbacks cash in with big-money extensions, and he was upset that the Seahawks would not give him one, according to multiple sources. It was a non-starter for the organization given its policy of not renegotiating contracts with more than one season left.
The $25 million average of Smith’s last deal ranked 19th among quarterbacks (it was 20th before the New York Giants released Daniel Jones) and last among full-time starters not on their rookie contract.
