Geno Smith turned around his NFL career with the Seattle Seahawks, earning the starting job when it looked like his career was fizzling out and topping 4,000 yards in consecutive seasons.
The Seahawks moved on and signed fellow turnaround quarterback Sam Darnold this offseason, and one outlet predicts that Smith could struggle to replicate his magical run with his new team. Smith signed with the quarterback-hungry Las Vegas Raiders and is expected to take on the starting job, but Rotoballer’s Aidin Ebrahimi predicts that he could find himself on the bench before the season comes to an end.
Geno Smith on Shaky Ground
Ebrahimi noted that Smith grew into a solid starting quarterback for the Seahawks, throwing for 7,944 yards with 41 touchdowns and 24 interceptions while earning an 18-14 record. But beneath the surface is a quarterback closer to league average than excellent, Ebrahimi added.
“Those numbers would have been really good in the 90s and mid-2000s, but his efficiency stats are scarily similar to the league average,” Ebrahimi wrote. “In 2024, he had a touchdown percentage of 3.6% (league average: 4.5%), a 2.6% interception rate (average: 2.2%), 6.3 net yards per attempt (average: 6.2), and a passer rating of 93.2 (league average: 92.3).”
Ebrahimi named Smith as one of the NFL quarterbacks most likely to be benched midseason, predicting the Raiders could turn back to Aidan O’Connell if he were to struggle.
“This will likely be a run-heavy team with Ashton Jeanty, so if Smith struggles early on, he could be replaced by O’Connell,” Ebrahimi wrote. “And don’t let Smith’s new contract fool you either. Jimmy Garoppolo signed a three-year, $67.5 million contract with the Raiders in 2023, but was benched for O’Connell in Week 9. It won’t be surprising if something similar happened to Smith.”
Seahawks Choose a New Direction
The Seahawks took a big swing this offseason, signing Darnold after his turnaround season with the Minnesota Vikings. The former No. 3 overall pick lost his starting job with the New York Jets and bounced around the league a bit before landing in Minnesota, where he was thrust into the starting job after rookie J.J. McCarthy suffered a season-ending knee injury.
Darnold responded with the best season of his career, completing 66.2% of his passes for 4,319 yards with 35 touchdowns — all career highs by a significant margin. He led the Vikings to a 14-3 record and a wild-card berth.
His season ended on a low note, however, as the Vikings fell flat in the season finale with a chance to win the NFC North and then got bounced out of the playoffs in the wild-card round.
Darnold said he hopes to move beyond the sad ending now that he’s with the Seahawks.
“For lack of a better term, we laid an egg as an offense,” Darnold told The Athletic’s Mike Silver about the end of the season for the Vikings. “And I think, for me personally, that sucks. I felt like we were a really good team, but at the end of the day — and this is gonna sound a little pessimistic — but when you get to the end of it and you don’t win the whole thing, you failed.
“I feel like I could have played way better, to be completely honest with you. I feel I didn’t play up to my standard. I truly feel that way. I feel like if I would have just played better, I would’ve been able to give the team a chance.”
