It was a year ago this week that Geno Smith led the Seattle Seahawks to a 27-23 win over the division-rival Los Angeles Rams.
The veteran journeyman completed 28-of-39 passes for 367 yards with three touchdowns in the win. It was the continuation of a season that culminated in Smith earning NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors after the former second-round pick struggled throughout his first nine years in the league.
Smith led Seattle to a shocking appearance in the NFL playoffs in its first post-Russell Wilson season since 2011, ultimately falling to the San Francisco 49ers in the wild-card round.
Fast forward a calendar year, and things have changed big-time for Smith and his Seahawks. Fresh off an ugly home loss to the aforementioned 49ers on Thanksgiving, Seattle is set for a road date with the red-hot Dallas Cowboys Thursday evening.
Seattle (6-5) has lost three of four and two consecutive within the division. The team finds itself as the sixth seed heading into Week 13, only one game ahead of the Green Bay Packers for a playoff spot. With a gauntlet of an upcoming schedule, this qualifies as a must-win for the Seahawks.
As for Smith, he just has not been the same quarterback this season as we saw during the 2022 campaign.
| Year | Comp % | Yards | TD | INT | QB rating |
| 2022 | 69.8 | 4,282 | 30 | 11 | 100.9 |
| 2023 | 65.4 | 2,584 | 12 | 8 | 88.2 |
The struggles have been even more pronounced during that aforementioned four-game span in which Seattle has lost three. Smith has accounted for three touchdowns with three turnovers with the Seahawks averaging roughly 15 points per game.
Not only are the Seahawks’ playoff lives pretty much on the line moving forward, but Smith’s future in the Pacific Northwest could be reliant on what he does over the next handful of weeks. That starts Thursday against Dallas.
Related: Seattle Seahawks standing in Sportsnaut’s NFL power rankings
Seattle Seahawks have an out on Geno Smith’s contract
Smith, 33, re-signed with Seattle this past March on a three-year, $75 million contract. It seemed to be team-friendly deal even before we looked into the details, given the performance he put up in 2022. The details add another layer to this.
Smith’s deal came with a mere $27.3 million guaranteed at signing. Seattle can outright release him in March while saving $13.8 million against the cap in 2024. If the team designated him a post-June 1 cut, it would save a total of $22.5 million with a mere $8.7 million dead cap hit, per Over the Cap.
General manager John Schneider and Co. were smart to protect themselves from a financial perspective. They pretty much committed to him for just one year. It made sense given Smith’s track record before the 2022 campaign.
- Geno Smith stats (2013-21): 59% completion, 6,817 yards, 34 TD, 37 INT, 75.7 QB rating
Smith lasted just two full seasons as the Jets’ starter after they selected him in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft, throwing 25 touchdowns against 34 interceptions.
Over the course of the next four seasons, he spent time as a backup for the Jets, New York Giants and Los Angeles Chargers. Smith was even out of football in 2019. By definition, he was a journeyman.
Related: Find out where Geno Smith stands among the NFL’s 32 starting QBs
Seattle Seahawks brutal schedule and what it means
Seattle is set to visit a Cowboys team that has won three consecutive games by a combined margin of 127-37. Dallas is undefeated at home with a 5-0 mark this season. Its average point differential in those five games stands at an astounding 29 points. You just can’t make this stuff up.
“This is an enormous opportunity for us,” Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll told reporters on Wednesday. “Now, look at the schedule; I know what’s coming. Every one of those games are enormous opportunities for us to figure in, in our division and still battle for all of that, that’s there. The NFC games, huge. Because it’s a Thursday-to-Thursday, and what happened last Thursday, it’s a big opportunity right here.”
After taking on Dallas, Seattle must vie with the 49ers for a second time in three weeks. This time, it comes in Northern California. Postseason included, San Francisco has defeated the Seahawks five consecutive times by an average margin of two touchdowns per game.
It doesn’t get any easier from there, with Seattle then set to host the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 15. In short, things could end up spiraling for the Seahawks.
Geno Smith’s opportunity to continue proving naysayers wrong
Despite all of this, Smith has been here before. He dropped to the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft due to perceived questions about the Florida native’s ability to translate to the professional ranks. This came after Smith was seen as a first-round lock early in the pre-draft process.
Smith was written off in New Jersey as a bust. He started one game in his only season with the Giants before throwing four passes as a member of the Chargers in 2018. Out of football in 2019, Smith signed on as pretty much training camp fodder with Seattle ahead of the 2020 season. He knows very well what overcoming adversity means.
“For a long time people had me pegged as this or that. Geno’s a bust, Geno’s a backup at best or what have you. Coach Carroll, though, I think he could tell I had a lot more to offer,” Smith penned in a letter on The Players’ Tribune ahead of the 2023 season.
Smith the backup. Smith the bust. It was an all-too familiar narrative for the veteran throughout his first eight NFL seasons.
Facing that uphill climb once again starting Thursday night, it’s certainly not time to write Smith off. But he’ll need to come up big to both help Seattle remain in playoff positioning and secure his future in the Pacific Northwest.