It appears that for the third season in a row, the Las Vegas Raiders have bet on a veteran quarterback to be their starter only for it to blow up in their face. Last year, it was Gardner Minshew, and the year before was Jimmy Garoppolo.
This time around, it’s Geno Smith, who was universally considered a better option than the two aforementioned quarterbacks. However, it’s hard to argue the fact that he’s been even worse for the Raiders than those two were.
Smith leads the NFL with nine interceptions and is 29th with a 75.6 quarterback rating. The team gave him a two-year contract extension in the offseason, but they can’t justify running things back with him if he doesn’t show major signs of improvement throughout the season.
CBS Sports’ Tyler Sullivan is already out on Smith and thinks this will be his only season in Las Vegas.
“If Smith continues on this current trajectory — and he’s showing no signs of turning a corner — that’s the road we’re heading down,” Sullivan wrote. And then it’ll be back to square one for the Raiders under center yet again, and that could cause a cascading turn of events where Las Vegas is also resetting across the board as 74-year-old Pete Carroll hasn’t looked dialed-in either to begin his tenure.
“This situation screams one-and-done.”
Raiders Will Likely Need to Give Smith At Least 1 More Year
The Raiders are clearly showing a lot of patience with Smith right now. The fact that they didn’t bench him during the Week 5 blowout shows that they haven’t lost faith in him yet.
What works in Smith’s favor is that head coach Pete Carroll is a big fan of his. He’s going to give the quarterback every chance to get out of this rut. While many Raiders fans are ready to see the team move on from Smith already, it’s hard to imagine he doesn’t at least get a second year.
If Las Vegas were to cut him after the season, they’d take on an $18.5 million dead cap hit. That’s not a massive number, but even if the team drafts a quarterback, they’re going to want a veteran in the room. With that in mind, Smith likely gets at least two years, but that might be it.
Smith Not Discouraged Yet
Smith has had some tough times early in his career, but the last few seasons have gone much better. He proved to be one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL, but now he looks more like how he did when he was first in the league.
Though things are going about as badly as they could be, Smith is still trying to remain confident in his ability.
“I’m never discouraged,” Smith said Sunday. “I don’t have it in my body to be down, or feel bad, or feel sad, I don’t have no pity in me. I’m going to grind it out. I’m going to figure it out, that’s just how I am.
“Again, if something doesn’t look right out there — offense, defense, special teams — put it on me.”
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Geno Smith Situation ‘Screams One-and-Done,’ per Analyst appeared first on Heavy Sports.