The Seahawks may or may not draft a quarterback early this year. What we do know for sure is that Geno Smith will be starting Week 1 and he’s their guy at quarterback for the foreseeable future.
Yesterday Smith further cemented his status as Seattle’s favored son at QB1 when he wrote a letter to Seattle fans in the Player’s Tribune. Smith thanked the fanbase for welcoming him and said it’s his mission to live up to the legacies of past Seahawks greats like Marshawn Lynch, Richard Sherman and a host of others.
One of the most interesting parts of the letter was a bit about Smith getting tipped off about the Russell Wilson trade before it happened. Apparently head coach Pete Carroll texted him and said the team would need him “big time this year” – at least giving him an idea of what was to come.
“Then in the offseason, I was probably one of the first people to know that a Russ trade might happen. I got a random text from Coach — this was before any of the news broke. And it was just like, “We’re going to need you big-time this year!!” I didn’t know for sure, but I had a pretty good idea of what that meant. The first thing I did after was call my mom, and I said, “Mom … it’s about to happen.” She’s like, “What??? What’s about to happen???” But I couldn’t really say more. So I’m just repeating myself, you know, like, “It’s about to. It’s about to. Trust me. It’s about to happen.”
At the time the Wilson trade seemed like an unthinkable blunder, but after a year it’s clear the Seahawks not only won the trade – but that they fleeced the Broncos in historic fashion. Wilson’s decline and the surplus draft capital helped, but without the rise of Smith the trade still might have gone sour.
That surprise development from Smith puts Seattle on better footing than the franchise has had in eight years. After bringing back middle linebacker Bobby Wagner to plug their biggest hole on defense all they need is another solid draft class to become a contender again.
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