The Raiders have been expected to reach a contract extension with newly acquired quarterback Geno Smith, but for reasons unknown it still hasn’t happened.
The Athletic’s Tashan Reed first reported that the extension was likely to be done before March 16, but the timeline keeps getting pushed back and last week the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vinny Bonsignore theorized that the decision makers in Las Vegas might be holding off on announcing the Smith trade until they have a new deal to go along with his introductory press conference.
Bonsignore has since said he thinks a deal between Smith and the Raiders will get done this week.
But until a new deal is reached, it’s fair to wonder what it is holding up the process because it’s hard to imagine the Raiders traded for Smith without knowing what they were going to have to do to extend his contract.
With that in mind, maybe there are other explanations to why the process is dragging out.
Do the Raiders want to leave their quarterback options open in the draft?
Trading a third-round pick for a $100+ million quarterback seems like a reasonable decision by the Raiders, but it wouldn’t make a lot of sense for the team to hand Smith a $100 million deal and follow up by drafting a quarterback with the no. 6 pick.
Could the Raiders be waiting to see how the draft plays out before committing two or three years and $100 million to Smith?
It seems like most of the beat writers covering the team are saying that isn’t the plan, but it wouldn’t be the worst idea to see what options might come in the draft before going all-in on a 34-year-old quarterback that most wouldn’t consider to be one of the 10 best in the league.
Are the Raiders trying to create the impression they might take a quarterback with the no. 6 pick?
There are reasons to believe Pete Carroll is committed to Smith, and if that’s the case… why let everyone know before the draft?
If the Raiders make a significant financial commitment to Smith before the draft, they would most likely be showing their hand – at least in terms of the possibly of taking a quarterback in the first round.
If the hope in Las Vegas is for one of the standout defensive players in this year’s draft to fall to them, maybe the Raiders want to create the illusion that they might take a quarterback in round one.
If they do that, it’s possible a team like the New York Jets would feel the need to trade ahead of pick 6 to get a quarterback like Shedeur Sanders or Jaxson Dart.
It’s all guesswork, but the more mystery the Raiders can add to their draft plans, the better.
And by holding off on Smith’s contract extension, it should only give the Raiders more flexibility on draft day, right?
Does Smith now have leverage with the Raiders on his potential new deal?
If the Raiders and Smith are legitimately having trouble reaching a deal, it would seem the veteran QB might have a little leverage.
Seattle host Dick Fain brought up the matter this week on the team’s flagship radio station.
“How happy is Geno Smith going to be taking less than $42, $43 million a year when that’s the whole reason he asked out of Seattle because Seattle wouldn’t give it to him?” Fain asked on Raider Nation Radio’s JT The Brick Show on Monday.
“I was kind of surprised that the Raiders hadn’t come up with a contract for Geno at the time of the trade. That’s always a little bit dangerous because now you’ve purchased Geno Smith,” Fain continued. “Now you got to come up with the price tag after you’ve taken him out of the store. I mean, that’s a little bit, that could be a little bit scary.”
JT responded by saying there wasn’t any concern in Las Vegas because of the Raiders’ flexible salary cap situation.
That’s a valid point, but from team’s perspective it would obviously be beneficial to sign Smith to a deal as team friendly as possible. A few million saved on Smith’s contract might be the difference in keeping or losing a player that can make an impact in 2025.
As JT and others have pointed out, the situation between Smith and the Raiders appears to be fine. But until there’s a contract in place, there’s going to be speculation about what’s really going on.
x: @raidersbeat
Take Jaxon Dart w 6th and Dillon Gabriel with the 3rd targeted for Smith. Let the 2 rookies sort it out along w AOC. Forget smith
Smith barely had a .500 record with Pete. I’d like to believe he closed his eyes to that extra third round pick and isn’t going to extend Geno until much later. And I’d also like to believe he’s smart enough not to waste any more draft picks this draft on a Q.
I guess they want to wait until they get a QB in the draft to decide to give Smith an extension. They might want to try and get a star QB in lower rounds then, decide if the rookie will start later/ from the start or if they’ll let Smith run the offense for a 1-2 years while the rookie sits and learns.
But the issue is- is this a playoff run year or a rebuild? the Raiders refuse to sign star/ elite FAs’ and they have an obsession with cheap players! where did they get this idea?- the NFL and the Patriots! they think they can ‘coach up’ these players like Bellichick and other great HCs’ did/ can(Shula, Reeves, Coughlin) and turn them into a kick butt, well coached team that can prepare for and beat even some of the best teams in the NFL. And the want a GM that can build a team of good, cheap players a few stars but only if they are team players and not have to deal with drama queens/ kings and not beg/ ask for too big contracts and fit in a system. But I will say Bellichick got elite/ star FA and players especially from the Raiders even though he could talk them into playing for less.
This is what the Raiders do now and Raidernation just buys it no matter the fact that we don’t have the great HC’s and GMs’ either that, or we just haven’t built a team that can/ has worked out and even though we suck at it! better than Al’s system/ vision and ideas?
Big money free agents are meant to be gap players for teams that are already constructed from the lines out. Spending big money now on any players is a complete waste of money. Our OL is far from good enough to produce a 1K runner. Even worse in pass protection. Our DL could be good. If it isn’t our secondary is going to get shredded. Gainer and Burney have to step up big time.
It’s actually the opposite. Check the PFF grades. O line was solid in pass protection and bad in the run game. I’m thinking it was scheme and bad coaching. We’ll see.
You must be one of those fantasy football generals? Stats PFF? Did you watch every minute of every game? And have a clue? Because the Q pressures were off the charts. While our offensive line was better pass protecting that run blocking, they were absolutely abysmal at both. And that’s a fact that obviously stats don’t catch
The Raiders made a trade for Geno Smith and it was confirmed by both teams. There hasn’t been a formal Q & A, and it’s making everyone so crazy. Who gives a fudgesicle if they haven’t brought out the new toy and let you kick the tires and checked under the hood. If Smith was unhappy, we would have heard about it. He is a modern athlete, he knows how to get the word out. There is no grandstanding. Other teams aren’t losing sleep on what the Raiders are doing. It doesn’t matter if they sign an extension with him. They could still draft a QB, it just happened in Atlanta last year. It doesn’t mean anything different if we don’t draft a QB. I think there is a draft every year, and another batch franchise players because “the experts” were wrong about half of this batch.
We hired a head coach with an extremely successful background. We traded a 3rd round pick for a better QB than what we have on the roster right now. Almost certainly better than any QB we could take with that pick, and get results this year. Half the fans are happy, the other half are PO’d. It’s another NFL off-season!
Has Geno even said three words into a mic since coming over post group? I honestly don’t know. I’m not much for lip service.
Can’t do anything until the offensive line is intact QB and RB will thrive our Defensive line isn’t bad need Linebacker help and another corner