RENTON — Seahawks receiver DK Metcalf used the occasion of a questioner referring to Geno Smith as underrated to make a point this week.
“Y’all been calling this man underrated for three years, and when is it going to stop?’’ Metcalf said.
He went on to detail some of Smith’s accomplishments saying, “Just seeing him go from a backup to a starter, I think it’s just crazy because you go from Russell Wilson to Geno Smith and there’s really no drop off in play.”
Concluded Metcalf: “I don’t think the underrated title should be used anymore.”
It’s hard to argue after Smith’s late-game heroics Sunday to beat New England 23-20 in overtime prevented the Seahawks from joining the muddled mix of 14 other 1-1 teams in the NFL. They are one of just nine 2-0 teams.
Smith leading the Seahawks to first force a tie late in regulation and get the win in OT marked his ninth game-winning drive since 2022, the most in the NFL in that span.
Here’s the thing — it might be one of the best things that happened to the Seahawks that everyone in the league underrated Smith for years.
That includes the Seahawks themselves.
Carolina’s decision this week to bench Bryce Young — the No. 1 pick just one year ago — serves as an instructive lesson in how hard it is even for those who make millions scouting football to identify an elite quarterback.
It makes it even more clear what a break the Seahawks caught that everybody missed the boat on Smith, who was there from 2017-22 for anyone to grab for around a league-minimum salary.
It might be easy to forget that the Seahawks even cut Smith for a day in August, 2019, following his first training camp with the team. True, it was just a clerical roster move the Seahawks needed to make in the wake of the Jadeveon Clowney trade.
Because Smith was a vested veteran, he could not be claimed off waivers. So as the Seahawks have done with a few vets through the years, the team cut Smith with an agreement that he would quickly re-sign once the trade became official and a roster spot again became available.
Smith returned on the same minimum contract, $870,000.
Smith at the time said a few other teams did approach him offering a bit more money but that, “I didn’t want to move.’’
Even Smith’s initial signing in 2019 was hardly filled with fanfare.
After starting just two games from 2015-18 with the Jets, Giants and Chargers, Smith was available for anyone to sign until May 15, 2019, when he agreed to a one-year minimum deal with the Seahawks, becoming the third QB on the roster behind Russell Wilson — who had just signed an extension that everyone involved touted as keeping him in town for the rest of his career — and former first-round pick Paxton Lynch, who they had signed in January.
