The Las Vegas Raiders aren’t giving up on Geno Smith yet, but they can’t be feeling as great about his long-term prospects. He’s nearly 35 and playing some of the worst football of his career.
He should be able to improve his play, but it’s clear that he’s not going to be the quarterback who leads the Raiders to the promised land. The team avoided drafting a potential future starter in the draft in large part due to their belief in Smith.
Even if he plays better, the Raiders can only realistically expect him to be an above-average starting quarterback for another two or three seasons. The team did trade for Kenny Pickett, but he’s likely a one-year rental who has limited upside.
If the Raiders don’t want to use a valuable draft pick on a quarterback, they could look at a young veteran who is on the outs with their current team.
The Indianapolis Colts are playing very well with Daniel Jones under center, which effectively ends the Anthony Richardson experiment. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the former No. 4 overall pick could prefer a trade to another team.
“My sense is Richardson would be open to joining a premier playcaller such as Sean McVay as a developmental player so he can reset for 2026,” Fowler wrote.
Should Raiders Trade for Richardson?
At this point, the trade price for Richardson should be low. He got benched in favor of Jones, who was previously considered a draft bust. If he could be had for a fourth-round pick or lower, Las Vegas should at least consider it.
Richardson is in his third NFL season, but he’s only three days older than 2025 No. 1 pick Cam Ward. He was very raw coming into the league, and the Colts were very quick to give up on him.
Now, he does have major issues. His accuracy is a huge problem that might not be fixable. That said, he’s 6-foot-4, runs a 4.43 40-yard dash and has one of the strongest arms in the NFL. Putting him in a situation where Chip Kelly can develop him, and he can learn behind Smith, might be the perfect setup for what he needs.
Head coach Pete Carroll has also done great work with quarterbacks despite being known as a defensive coach.
Raiders May Prefer to Wait Until Draft
As interesting as Richardson would be, the Raiders already traded away a fifth-round pick to add Pickett. They may not be as keen to give up another draft pick on a different draft bust quarterback.
For the first time since the team drafted JaMarcus Russell in 2007, the Raiders may decide to use a first-round pick to address the position. At some point, they need to add a blue-chip prospect to develop.
Smith clearly isn’t the long-term answer. Richardson could be very interesting and cheap, but the Raiders may not want to give up an asset for a player who hasn’t looked good. The franchise has been in quarterback purgatory for a few years, and if Smith doesn’t show major signs of improvement, they’ll need to go all in on addressing the position in the draft.
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