It’s no secret that the Raiders were one of the worst-coached teams in the NFL last year, particularly on the offensive side, and according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, that could be good news for Geno Smith.
Smith was arguably the most disappointing veteran quarterback in the league in 2025, but Graziano suggested this weekend that he might get a mulligan from some teams because of the scheme and coaching staff he was tied to with the Raiders.
“Multiple coaches from teams looking to add a QB told me that they were eager to see whether the Raiders would release Smith because they thought his tape from last season suggested he was held back by the Raiders’ offensive system,” Graziano reported on Sunday.
“The Raiders are expected to select Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza with the first pick of the draft, but they’re telling people they’d rather not play a rookie QB in Week 1. So, because they have to pay Smith anyway, they could keep him and start him until Mendoza is ready. If they part ways, there will be interest in Smith.”
On a related note…
The NFLPA team report card was released last week, and the Raiders performed well in all areas but the coordinator positions. The players anonymously graded their offensive coordinator an ‘F’ and their defensive coordinator a ‘C’ for the season.
It has been reported that both coordinators dealt with meddling bosses last year, and based on Graziano’s report, there will be teams interested in giving Smith an opportunity to work with a coordinator not named Chip Kelly in 2026.
Local media has been adamant for months that Smith will be released by the Raiders at the end of the season, but that was before Kubiak was hired to be the next head coach.
Last month, the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vinny Bonsignore called it a “foregone conclusion” that Smith and the Raiders were heading towards a divorce, but revisiting Kubiak’s comments from a year ago (when he thought Smith was going to be the quarterback in Seattle), it’s fair to wonder if the first-year head coach might be open to the idea of keeping Smith as a mentor for Fernando Mendoza.
“[Geno] was a huge draw to come here and to get to coach him alongside (quarterbacks coach) Andrew Janocko, so we have high expectations for him,” Kubiak said at his Seahawks’ introductory news conference in February of last year.
“We’re going to push Geno and get the best out of him, and we’ll do that by pushing his teammates as well. It’s not just him. It’s a team thing, and he’s got to be the head of that.”
x: @raidersbeat
Many people didn’t watch any games. Every time he drop back the pass, he was under pressure. His small brain was reduced to mush. He locked on receivers pre-snap, and rightly, so heard footsteps when there weren’t any.
And that’s not giving him any credit it’s just stating facts.
Geno Smith is not worth holding on to. Yes he can throw far, but as for pocket presence he was terrible. He can’t scramble if his life depended on it. Better to keep O’Connell on instead. At least he looked over the whole field to get rid of the ball. Better scrambler too.
Totally agree!
Move on, he hates the Raiders and would be a negative source in the locker room.