Geno Smith: ‘I want to finish my career in Seattle.’ Seahawks want him. Draft may change
Geno Smith’s eyes said it all.
They were wet. They were red. They were earnest and full of appreciation.
So were his words: Forget free agency. He wants to return to be the Seahawks’ quarterback for the 2023 season.
And the top football decision-maker wants him back.
“I want to finish my career in Seattle,” the 32-year-old quarterback said after his season of going from a seven-year NFL backup to Pro Bowl selection, breaker of Russell Wilson’s Seahawks records and first career playoff start ended with a 41-23 loss at the San Francisco 49ers Saturday.
“I want to be here. The town, the city, the team, Coach (Pete) Carroll, the organization, they all embraced me. I was a guy who probably could have been out of the league. They embraced me.
“I want to re-pay them for that.”
Smith completed 25 of 35 passes for 253 yards, two touchdowns, an interception against San Francisco’s top-ranked defense in the final game of his one-year, $3.5 million contract. He had a game-changing fumble he lost on a sack with the Seahawks driving inside the 20-yard line down 23-17 late in the third quarter.
After the sudden end to an unexpected season for Seattle (9-9), Carroll said he wants the man he chose back in August to replace the traded Wilson as his quarterback to return for 2023.
Asked if he wanted Smith to return rather than leave in free agency that begins in March, Carroll said: “I hope so. I hope so.”
This was one week after Smith indicated the NFL “was a business,” the Seahawks had decisions to make, and so did he.
The QB wants to stay. His coach and chief authority on the matter hopes he will.
Whether it happens or not comes down to, of course, money.
Smith hasn’t had a multiyear contract since the rookie one he signed with the New York Jets as their second-round draft choice in 2013. He’s been on a string of no-security, minimum-salary deals for one year each in the seven years before this one he was a backup for four teams.
The Seahawks are likely to offer him eight or nine times the $3.5 million he earned by maximizing his incentive bonuses for the 2022 season, after he beat out Drew Lock for the job in the preseason.
The free-agent market could offer him a 10x raise. That is, considering Tennessee’s 35-year-old quarterback Ryan Tannehill earns an average of $29.5 million per season, wasn’t picked for the Pro Bowl this season and didn’t get his team to the playoffs.
Yet Smith is sounding like he doesn’t want to even test the open market. He want to finish what he began this season leading the young, hungry — and now stunned — Seahawks.
“I’m in it for the long haul,” he said. “I’m ready to go.”
Geno Smith has changed draft plans
The Seahawks have four picks in the first two rounds of this spring’s draft. That includes the fifth-overall choice, thanks to Wilson and the Broncos going 5-12 this season.
Smith’s season has changed Seattle’s thinking.
Prior to it, Carroll’s and general manager John Schneider’s plan after trading Wilson was to use their bushel of new picks from Denver to have their starting quarterback after the 2023 draft. It is full of what NFL scouts see as NFL-ready quarterbacks, such as Bryce Young of Alabama and C.J. Stroud from Ohio State.
Smith setting team records with 399 completions, 572 passes, 4,282 yards and a league-leading completion rate of 69.8% has changed Carroll’s and Schneider’s thinking on the draft.
They have been drafting in the 20s of the first round while making the playoffs 10 times in their 13 years running the Seahawks. Now they must consider using their once-in-a-generation fifth pick on a desperately needed defensive lineman who can stop the run and rush the passer. Or on a center and guard who can block somebody. Or on a play-making linebacker.
Someone to help a defense that allowed 505 more yards and 41 points Saturday, ending a season in which that side of the ball often sabotaged Smith’s success.
Now the Seahawks can draft line-of-scrimmage help first, then a quarterback who does not have to play in 2023. They can re-sign Smith, likely for two or three years at $25 million per year or more, then draft a quarterback they can develop behind the veteran rather than play right away.
DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett want Smith back
Smith’s top wide receivers made it clear they want Smith to return as their quarterback.
Metcalf caught 10 passes for 136 yards and Smith’s perfect pass on third and 3 in the second quarter, on Metcalf’s go route past top 49ers cornerback Charvarius Ward down the left sideline for a 50-yard touchdown pass. That put Seattle ahead 14-13 in the second quarter, all the way back from a 10-0 deficit early.
Metcalf said he didn’t know Smith’s contract was ending and he could be a free agent in March. That shows how much the quarterback, the receivers and the team has Smith ingrained as their man.
“We designated Tyler, Quandre (Diggs) and Al Woods as our team captains,” with special-teamer Nick Bellore, Metcalf said. “But around game seven or eight, you could feel the team shift and start to listening to Geno. Everybody just started to gravitate towards him, and what he said. He just started to lead.”
Lockett indicated he’s not considering anyone but Smith as his quarterback for at least 2023, if not beyond.
“Oh, yeah, I mean, of course we want Geno back,” Lockett said.
“I think everybody in the building wants to bring Geno to come back.
“Obviously, like Geno said, the NFL is a business, and so they all are going to do what’s best for each other.
“Very happy with how Geno played, and everything he’s done throughout this year. Just amazing, just to have an opportunity to have an incredible season, a Pro Bowl year, at that.
“So very excited for him, just what the future holds.”
This story was originally published January 14, 2023 at 6:42 PM.
