The Seahawks have, as expected, retained backup quarterback Geno Smith. A new deal being agreed upon between the two sides was first reported by NFL insider Jordan Schultz and corroborated by USA Today’s Josina Anderson (Twitter link). 
ESPN’s Jeremey Fowler details that the new contract is one year in length, and has a maximum value of $7MM (Twitter link). That represents a sizable raise for the 31-year-old, who had previously earned no more than $1.2MM in a single season during his tenure in Seattle.
Smith stepped in for the injured Russell Wilson midway through the 2021 campaign. In four total appearances (including three starts), he threw for 702 yards and five touchdowns, completing over 68% of his passes. While the team only won one of those games, Smith’s level of play was higher than that during most of his NFL tenure.
It came as little surprise, then, that head coach Pete Carroll publicly stated the team’s intention to re-sign him. While the Seahawks also have former Bronco Drew Lock as a result of the Wilson trade, Smith is expected to compete for the starting role, something reflected by the financial value of this new pact.
This deal, of course, doesn’t guarantee that Seattle is set with those two at the top of the depth chart for 2022. The team has been named (as recently as yesterday) as a potential trade destination for the likes of Baker Mayfield and Jimmy Garoppolo; they also hosted Desmond Ridder for a draft visit, signalling that they could be willing to select a future franchise signal-caller. Regardless of their future plans, they will clearly have a familiar face available to serve as, at a minimum, an experienced backup.
What is the point, unless they can cut him before the season without costing too much? Are they simply going to waste a full season and draft a QB next year? Please tell me this is not the plan.
What would you rather they do? I get not wanting to watch Geno (trust me, I’m a Jets fan), but it’s not like any available QB is going to make them better than last in that division this year, unless another team has rotten injury luck.
Exactly my point. If Smith starts the whole season you are looking at a 4 win season. I’ll ask again, what is the point?Draft a QB, play him 1/2 to 2/3 of the season. If he ends up not being your guy then draft another QB. Don’t simply waste a season.
If you don’t actually like any of the QBs in this draft to draft them where you’d need to instead of other players, it would also be a waste to draft one. They need talent just about everywhere.
$7M??? Why??? He was not good when filling in for injured RW. This makes zero sense…
Good news: I don’t see Mayfield coming here now…
If the Seahawks wanted to compete in the division for the next 10 years, they never should have pushed Russ out the door like they did. It is going to be a long, sad road for Seahawks fans.
Pushed Russ out the door? Are you kidding me? Russ opened the door himself and put one foot out all the while making eye contact and saying “I don’t wanna leave but…”
The correct way to approach that situation was for the Allen to fire the Pete and the Schnieder so that this could never happen. Obviously there is a culture problem created by them.
7M is probably the max if he’s the full-time starter. The actual cost will probably be half that.
I don’t think Smith was worth re-signing, but $7 million is not that bad for a backup QB/possible starter these days, particularly when it likely will not be worth close to that.
Also, whatever Seattle pays Mayfield will be MUCH less than that, since Cleveland is already on the hook for his salary no matter what. So Seattle could pay him the minimum and Cleveland would have to pay the difference.
That’s why he hasn’t been traded-the Browns want compensation, but nobody is going to give them anything for a QB that the Browns already have to pay and who will not start for them again. Seattle could send a sixth round pick to get ahead and trade for Mayfield, and still pay him the minimum for this year if they wanted to, and Cleveland would have to pay his salary remainder. It’d be a huge positive for the Seahawks.
I imagine fans in Arizona fully support this move as Geno has a 13.9 passer rating against the Cardinals.