Will the Raiders bring back Geno Smith in 2026?
Conventional wisdom says the team will not, but the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vinny Bonsignore said last week he believes Smith will be back in Las Vegas next year.
Now, another beat writer around the team is saying the same.
According to Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter, the “tea leaves” right now are pointing toward the Raiders sticking with their veteran quarterback for another year.
“I would suspect they will probably bring Geno back at this point. That is not definitive, but I’m just reading the tea leaves, talking to some people. I think they will probably bring Geno back to develop [a young quarterback],” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
As Bonsignore pointed out last week, the Raiders will pay $18 million to Smith whether he is on the roster next year or not.
“Geno Smith, everyone brings up the hard cap hit. It’s also $18 million in cash that you have to pay him. It’s not something that’s just a repercussion, you know, a salary cap repercussion,” Bonsignore said on Raider Nation Radio’s Morning Tailgate last week.
“This is actual money,” Bonsignore continued. “So I would probably lean more toward… you draft a quarterback, Geno Smith becomes the guy that you roll into next year with until you feel like the rookie is ready to take over and then you hand over the reins to him. That might not be next year. It could be the year after that.”
Until it actually happens, it’s hard to imagine the Raiders are going to bring back Smith.
It feels like the 2025 season has all but broken Smith and his finger flipping incident two weeks ago felt like a confirmation.
Smith has been through more with the fans than what has reached the internet, but a video from Sunday’s game in Los Angeles offered another glimpse into what it’s been like for Geno Smith in Silver & Black this year.
Mentally, it’s hard to imagine Smith hasn’t reached a point of no return with the Raiders, and if the team brings him back, they’re going to pay a lot more than $18 million to probably learn (again) that Geno isn’t the answer.
And another thought/observation on Geno’s disappointing season…
Where are all of Geno’s teammates defending him to the media and/or on social media?
Maybe that’s reading into the situation too much, but from the outside it doesn’t particularly seem like the locker room has rallied around their $75 million quarterback this year.
If Pete is retained no question Gina will also return. Which is tragic.
You know everyone knows Geno is having a terrible year, 50 sacks ish. Until they do something quick about their front line that’s going to b issue. Theirs not one qback n the league that would have a good tear with that front line. Theirs also other issues they need to iron out. Wide receivers, cornerbacks, linebacker, should I keep going? They still have a lot of trouble tackling. All the things I mentioned above they r lat n the league. Max and the other players on the defensive line r actually play’n good, buy aso need help there to. I’ve never seen them play this bad. Who is running the team? If it’s mark making the decision he needs to ****’n step down, he’s definitely isn’t AL Davis.
Then again, Al Davis wasn’t Al Davis for a quite a while.
A very, very long time. Decades.
He alone burnt down the great ship that he built. Burying it in sewer water.
Geno has to go. He gave Raider Nation the finger. Unacceptable
Totally agree with you there
And because management and ownership isn’t at least sitting him down for a game shows just what they think of the fans.
F U to them too because they’re basically giving him a pass for his actions
Hondo “reading” the tea leaves. Can Hondo even read much less think.
Other than one year the raiders have been losers for the last 40 years and will continue down that road as long as the Davis family owns the team. They don’t have the foogest idea how to build a winning team. Tom Brady needs to go away. He is a patriot and not a raider. Kick him to the curb and kick him hard when you do it.