The Smith File
Team: Seattle Seahawks
Height: 6-3
Weight: 221
Birthday: 10/10/1990, 32
40-yard Dash: 4.59
College: West Virginia
Draft: 2nd round, 39th pick, 2013 NFL Draft, New York Jets
Contract: Signed a three-year, $75 million with the Seahawks
WAG: Hayley Eastham
Children: Son, Seven Santana Smith.
Accomplishments:
NFL Comeback Player of the Year, 2022
NFL Completion Percentage Leader, 2022
First-team All-Big East selection, 2011
Second-team All-Big East selection, 2010
Geno Smith Finally Scores Big Financially
There is no better story from the 2022 NFL season than Geno Smith. And no better ending to that story than when the Seahawks quarterback signed a three-year, $75 million deal, finally assuring him financial security.
Smith’s journey is well-documented – eight seasons in the NFL, only one full season of play, before winning the starting job in Seattle after the Seahawks traded Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos. Smith grabbed the opportunity by the facemask and never let go.
He led the NFL in completion percentage (69.8-percentage) and won NFL Comeback Player of the Year, leading the Seahawks to a 9-8 record and a playoff appearance. Still, there were some questions as to whether the Seahawks believed Smith was their 2023 starter.
The signing confirms that.
Of course, already there are questions about Smith’s status after 2023. Daniel Jones got four years, $160 from the Giants. Lamar Jackson will get at least $32 million from the Ravens. Joe Burrow will get a monster deal.
There are factors, of course, that figure into these deals. Smith is 32. Jones is 25, Burrow is 26, Jackson is 24. Smith also isn’t an exceptional thrower of the football. His surest routes are uncomplicated ones - the out, the quick slant. His yards per attempt was a middle-of-the pack 7.5.
To his credit he made those throws in Seattle and threw just 11 picks.
Smith’s journey began in 2013 when he was a second-round pick of the Jets. He didn’t win the job on a long-term basis there or when he was with the Giants in 2017. He had a cup of coffee with the Chargers and saw limited time as Wilson’s backup in Seattle. Who knows if Smith would have ever gotten a chance in Seattle but a behind the scenes rift between Wilson and coach Pete Carroll was widening a chasm.
Wilson was traded and Smith had his chance.