The Las Vegas Raiders and Geno Smith have a contentious relationship right now. The quarterback is consistently getting booed at heckled at home games.
After the team’s loss to the Cleveland Browns, cameras caught Smith flipping his middle finger at fans in the crowd. Presumably, he was flashing the obscene gesture to Raiders fans, but it’s hard to know for sure.
Former Raiders quarterback Derek Carr knows a thing or two about getting booed by fans of the team. He’s even had garbage thrown at him after the team’s final loss in Oakland before they moved to Las Vegas.
Despite the amount of heckling he got over the years, Carr never got into it with fans at games. He saw what Smith did, and while he’s sympathetic to what the quarterback is going through, he doesn’t think it’s the best way to go about things.
“I can’t support it. I don’t support it, but I can understand it,” Carr said on the “Home Grown” podcast. “The frustration’s building. We’ve all felt that way. … If it was to a Raider fan, I hope he apologizes.”
The problem facing Smith is that he’s still new to the franchise and doesn’t have any supporters in the fan base right now. Actions like this are only going to make it more difficult for the fan base to warm up to him.
Smith Might Be One-and-Done With Raiders
This is going to be a difficult situation to come back from for Smith. Raiders fans are some of the most aggressive in the NFL, so they can get over the obscene gesture, but they can’t get over their quarterback playing poorly while also going after the fans.
The Raiders gave Smith a two-year contract extension in the offseason, which keeps him under team control through the 2027 season. However, it doesn’t look like he’ll last that long. If the Raiders cut Smith after the season, they’ll be hit with an $18.5 million dead cap hit. That’s not a massive price to move off of a quarterback, but it is wasted money.
Unless Smith’s play drastically improves with Greg Olson taking over playcalling, he should be looking for a new team next season.
Smith Likely to Face Punishment
If the Raiders or the NFL were going to suspend Smith for the gesture, they likely would’ve announced it already. It’s more likely that the quarterback gets hit with a fine. This is his second obscene gesture to fans this season, so he could be looking at a hefty fine.
The NFL doesn’t want players interacting with fans in that way. Smith is 35 and has been in the league for a long time. He should know better than to get into these types of situations. He’s proven in the past that he can be a capable quarterback, but this might be the last chance he has to start.
Teams don’t want aging quarterbacks who throw a lot of interceptions and who also can’t keep their cool. A rough year for Smith seems to only be getting rougher.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Derek Carr Has Strong Words for Geno Smith Over Obscene Gesture Controversy appeared first on Heavy Sports.