The Seattle Seahawks had a solid first season under head coach Mike Macdonald, going 10-7 in 2024. However, that wasn’t enough to win the NFC West or make the playoffs as a Wild Card team. In Macdonald’s second offseason, the roster needs to continue to evolve, and that may mean getting rid of some key players. That means the one Seahawks player who could be a surprise roster cut in the 2025 offseason could actually be Geno Smith
Geno Smith could be the surprise Seahawks roster cut this offseason
The first question Seahawks fans will have when you suggest that the team could cut Smith this offseason is, who will play quarterback then?
That is absolutely a fair question, and one we will get into, but first let’s talk about why the team could cut their starting QB ahead of the 2025 campaign.
As the 2024 NFL season wraps up with the Super Bowl, the Seahawks aren’t in great shape, salary cap-wise. They are currently $11.3 million over the 2025 cap, which is the fifth-worst in the NFL, per Spotrac.
Now, general manager John Schneider has plenty of levers to pull in order to get well under the cap. Seattle can extend, release, or trade DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and Dre’mont Jones to free up anywhere from around $20 to over $50 million in cap space. However, the biggest savings would come if the team cut Smith, who is set to account for a $44.5 million cap hit next season.
By releasing the quarterback before the first day of the new league year (March 13, 2025) or after June 1, the Seahawks would save $31 million based on Smith’s $13.5 million dead cap hit. If they cut him after the start of the league year but before June 1, they will save $15 million against the cap.
That is all well and good on paper, but the problem becomes, who will play QB for the Seahawks if not Geno Smith?
Well, Seahawks fans know it won’t be the two other quarterbacks currently on the roster. Sam Howell and Jaren Hall are on the books with great deals. They both will make just over a million bucks in 2025. However, the reason they are on those low-level NFL contracts is that neither seems like they have what it takes to be an NFL starting signal-caller.
Hall has played just three games in his pro career, with the last one coming for the Minnesota Vikings in Week 16 of the 2023 season. And while Howell has more experience — 20 games, 18 starts — the results simply haven’t been there. He took 25 snaps for the Seahawks in 2024, going 5-of-14 for 24 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.
All this means that the player who will replace Smith if the Seahawks cut him is not currently in the building.
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At one point not too long ago, though, it seemed like the team didn’t have a legit replacement for Russell Wilson, and that’s when Smith came to prominence and earned his current $40 million contract. And if Schneider did it once, maybe he can do it again.
There will be several quarterback options on the free agent or trade market who will be less expensive, younger, better (or some combination of the three) than Smith.
On the free agent side, there are veteran options like Sam Darnold, Taylor Heinicke, Joe Flacco, or even the Seahawks' old friend, Drew Lock. As far as young QBs go who the Seahawks could sign, maybe they take a chance on a former first-round pick like Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, or Justin Fields.
There could be options on the trade market as well. Depending on what happens in the 2025 NFL Draft and with roster cuts, the Seahawks could get in on players like Kirk Cousins, Aaron Rodgers, Will Levis, or Aidan O’Connell.
Sure, none of these names are super confidence-inspiring, but that was what people thought about Geno Smith once upon a time.
Additionally, there are several interesting Day 2 and 3 names in the upcoming draft, which is exactly where Wilson came from before Smith. Seattle could sign one of the veteran names above and also draft a QB like Jaxson Dart from Ole Miss, Will Howard from Ohio State, Jalen Milroe from Alabama, Kyle McCord from Syracuse, Quinn Ewers from Texas, or Dillon Gabriel from Oregon.
In the end, the simple fact is that as good as Smith has been for the last three years, he is not a championship-level quarterback, and Mike Macdonald and the Seahawks need to start working toward finding one of those. Paying Smith $40 million next season while doing that is a non-starter.
That’s why cutting Geno Smith and starting with some new options under center is surprising but also a likely outcome for the Seahawks this offseason.
