When the Las Vegas Raiders traded for Geno Smith last year, many hailed it as a solid move for the franchise. The quarterback was coming off three solid seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, and the price to get him was only a third-round pick.
However, it quickly became apparent that things weren’t working out. He got off to a rough start with the Raiders and never recovered. Smith led the NFL with 17 interceptions and went 2-13 as a starter.
He played so poorly that the Raiders moved on from him after one season despite giving him a contract extension. Head coach Pete Carroll also got shown the door, as he was Smith’s biggest advocate. While the quarterback was objectively bad in 2025, Carroll doesn’t think it was his fault.
“Going through all the offseason and camp, I thought Geno was going to be (expletive) great,” Carroll told Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post. “Geno has earned my backing because he is a baller. It isn’t too big for him. When he was a pup with Jets the first time (2013-16) and they got their [expletive] kicked, it was not his fault. And it was not his fault with the Raiders, either. We weren’t good enough, and we didn’t prepare him well enough for the rigors of the season. His talent showed.”
Can Smith Bounce Back?
The bad news for Smith is that he goes from a bad situation to another. The New York Jets were the second-worst team in the NFL last season, and head coach Aaron Glenn might have the hottest seat of any coach in the league.
Smith is going to have his work cut out for him. This may be his last chance to be a starting quarterback for a team. Carroll previously made it clear that he’s still confident in the veteran.
“If he figured out [New York] was a good place for him and he wanted to do it, and he was part of the decision, then I couldn’t support him more,” Carroll told ESPN in March. “If he saw the reasoning and felt the support and the opportunity, I couldn’t be in more favor of it. I love the guy and want the very best for him. He deserves it. He worked really hard to get where he is.”
Raiders Have Moved on Completely
The Raiders moved on from Smith quickly and never looked back. They signed Kirk Cousins in free agency and drafted Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 pick.
Cousins is getting the starting nod in Week 1, and he should at least be an upgrade over Smith. He knows Klint Kubiak’s offense well and seems a bit more poised than Smith did last season. Luckily for the Raiders, if Cousins sees similar struggles to Smith, they can simply play Mendoza whenever they want. The rookie is the future of the franchise, so he’ll likely see the field at some point this season.
Even if the Raiders struggle at quarterback in 2026, they can at least feel better about the future.
Pete Carroll Assigns Blame for Geno Smith’s Bad Raiders Season