Getty Seahawks general manager John Schneider (left) and head coach Pete Carroll appear to have won the Russell Wilson trade.
Despite the team’s struggles to start the season, the Seattle Seahawks may have found their quarterback of the future in Geno Smith. The veteran signal-caller and the Seahawks offense have been the bright spot through the first month of the season as the team looks for help from the defense.
Pro Football Focus’ Doug Kyed believes the Seahawks could look to sign Smith to a long-term contract if his stellar play continues. Whether it is from the Seahawks or another quarterback-needy team, Smith is due for a sizable raise from his current $3.5 million deal that will make him a free agent this offseason. Kyed cited Teddy Bridgewater’s three-year, $63 million contract he signed with the Panthers in 2020 as a potential range for Smith’s next deal.
“If looking for a comparable contract, one source pointed to the three-year, $63 million deal Teddy Bridgewater signed with the Carolina Panthers in 2020,” Kyed wrote on October 12, 2022.
As with any NFL contract, the devil is in the details as the team’s risk would depend on how much guaranteed money the Seahawks included in Smith’s new deal. We saw the Panthers trade Bridgewater to the Broncos just one year later, and Carolina was forced to eat a large portion of the veteran’s salary as part of the deal.
The Seahawks Urged to Wait to Sign Smith to a New Contract
Russell Wilson vs. Geno Smith this season 👀
Despite Smith’s hot start, there have been plenty of examples of quarterbacks hitting a brief hot streak only to regress after signing new contracts. One NFL source told Pro Football Focus that the Seahawks would be wise to prolong the process of signing Smith to a new deal until the sample size is bigger.
“That being said, that source doesn’t believe the Seahawks should be in a rush to get a contract done with Smith unless it’s extremely team-friendly,” Kyed noted. “Smith looks like a starter — and a top-20 one right now, at that — but we’re only five weeks in, and Seattle be best off waiting until the end of the season to see how everything shakes out before committing to a quarterback who, prior to this season, had started five games between 2015 and 2021.”
Could the Seahawks Re-Sign Smith & Draft a Quarterback?
GENO SMITH STILL AIN’T WRITE BACK
Even if the Seahawks re-sign Smith, the move would not necessarily prevent Seattle from also drafting a quarterback. If the 2023 NFL draft started five weeks into the season, the Seahawks would hold the No. 10 and No. 11 picks, putting them in the range of where a top quarterback could still be available with the team owning plenty of additional selections to possibly move up.
Seattle could look to use one of their four selections in the first two rounds to select a quarterback. This would still allow the Seahawks to potentially re-sign Smith as the favorite to remain the starter for at least 2023. It is not a strategy often deployed in today’s current NFL, but it would allow the rookie quarterback to learn behind Smith.
“The Seahawks also own two first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, and they’re currently slotted in at Nos. 10 and 11 overall,” Kyed added. “They’re in an ideal spot to draft a quarterback of the future — unless they believe Smith can be that player.
“The Lions (Nos. 4 and 13 overall) and the Houston Texans (Nos. 6 and 8 overall) also currently have two picks inside the top 15.”