The Las Vegas Raiders have made some bad bets on veteran quarterbacks over the last few years, but Geno Smith might be the worst of the bunch. Jimmy Garoppolo was a disaster, but the team didn’t have to trade anything to get him.
Gardner Minshew was benched after nine starts, but the Raiders didn’t pay him much money. Not only did Las Vegas trade a third-round pick to get Smith, but they also gave him a huge two-year contract extension.
It’s looking more and more like this will be his lone season with the Raiders. Smith is 2-5 as a starter and is tied for the NFL lead with 10 interceptions. He has been one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the league this season.
He has to turn things around soon, or the Raiders may have to consider benching him. Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report went through and named every team’s most disappointing player, and Smith was the obvious choice for Las Vegas.
“It’s obviously disappointing that Brock Bowers has yet to score in his sophomore season, but a knee injury is a factor there,” Gagnon wrote. “Also, his expensive new quarterback has seven touchdown passes to a tied-for-league-high 10 interceptions. The experiment has failed.”
Smith Ranked as 30th QB in NFL
There’s plenty of bad quarterback play in the NFL every season. The problem with Smith is that he’s a veteran making a lot of money, so he can’t afford to be playing like a rookie.
Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports ranked every quarterback in the NFL ahead of Week 8, and Smith was ranked 30th.
“Speaking of turnovers, Smith barely had any chances to give the ball away in his latest outing, but that’s because Las Vegas couldn’t advance down the field,” Benjamin wrote. “Pete Carroll wants to win now, but his old friend has thrown into traffic more than most.”
The only two quarterbacks ranked lower than Smith were rookies Cam Ward and Dillon Gabriel. Tyrod Taylor has only started one game this season, and he was ranked higher. It might not be fair to rank Smith that low, but it shows how little analysts think of him right now.
How Much Longer is Smith’s Leash?
The Raiders aren’t going to be a playoff team this season. They’ve already dug themselves into a hole and don’t have the talent to go on a big run to end the year.
However, that doesn’t mean the Raiders can keep putting Smith out there if he’s going to play so poorly. Head coach Pete Carroll’s whole gimmick is “comPETE.” It’s hard to preach that when a player is playing about as poorly as anybody in the NFL, but he keeps getting chances.
Carroll could lose a lot of credibility in the locker room if he’s not willing to treat Smith the way he treats everybody else. The easiest fix is for Smith to at least provide serviceable quarterback play. The Raiders don’t need him to be Josh Allen; they just need him to throw more touchdowns than interceptions.
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