Geno Smith is the newest QB1 in Las Vegas, and his transition to the desert was one that came together quickly after Matthew Stafford made the decision to return to the Rams in late February.
Initially, it was reported that Smith wasn’t happy with the contract offer from the Seahawks, but as more details have emerged, it has become clear that the veteran quarterback simply didn’t want to be in Seattle anymore.
According to Sports Illustrated insider Albert Breer, Smith was initially turned off by a conversation with Seattle GM John Schneider in the summer of 2024.
“Just based on that conversation, I kind of knew the direction the team was going,” Smith told Breer last week.
Breer reported that the Seahawks wanted to bring back Smith, but didn’t want to commit to him beyond one season – a detail that didn’t sit well with Smith and stalled all contract negotiations.
“Seattle, Schneider and Macdonald, for their part, did take a pretty significant swing at getting Smith to renew his vows with the franchise after the season. But even with a solid contract offer on the table, the disconnect the quarterback felt over the previous summer remained,” Breer said.
“The offer didn’t make an exception to the Seahawks’ general rule not to fully guarantee money in future years. It was also well shy of where Smith’s camp wanted to be in average per year. So, Smith’s camp didn’t bother to counter. The big problem for Smith was how the proposal gave the team escape hatches.”
It was never hard to connect the dots between Smith and the Raiders, but according to ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio, the dynamic that led Smith to Las Vegas was primarily the presence of Pete Carroll.
“[Geno] Smith presumably could have gotten that same deal, or something close to it, if he’d stayed in Seattle. However, there was another wrinkle at play. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Smith wanted to reunite with coach Pete Carroll,” Florio reported on Saturday.
“That doesn’t mean Smith deliberately overshot in his contract negotiations with the Seahawks with the hope of being traded to Las Vegas. But it was part of the overall thought process for Smith. And it worked.”
Ultimately, Smith is getting a base salary with the Raiders that comes in below the $40-45 million the Seahawks were reportedly offering, but the level of trust between Smith and Carroll is something no one is Seattle was able to match.
x: @raidersbeat