Pete Carroll on Seahawks QB Geno Smith: ‘He better come back’

Coach Pete Carroll is hoping that quarterback Geno Smith remains with the Seattle Seahawks after only signing a one-year last offseason.

Quarterback Geno Smith signed a one-year deal with the Seattle Seahawks last offseason and without a new contract, Smith is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the start of the new league year.

“I mean he better come back,” coach Pete Carroll said Sunday when asked about Smith’s status for the future. “Obviously, I want the best for him, and hopefully we can have that conversation in exit meetings; we’re still alive right now, we still have a chance. But he’s played phenomenal.”

Smith wrapped up the regular season having connected on 399 passes of 572 attempted with 11 interceptions and 30 touchdowns. His final completion rating of the year  . . . a whopping 69.8%. Smith has definitely made plenty of mistakes and the Seahawks could look to draft a young QB of the future, but it seems worthwhile at this point to at least explore a new deal.

“He’s put himself in a great position,” Carroll conceded. “I’m grateful he got his opportunity. He took advantage of it and he’s playing great. He was able to go out there and break some records today.

“It’s just great for him, he’s a great person, great dude.”

But for now, the Seahawks have a playoff game to focus on. Seattle heads down to the Bay Area to battle the 49ers this Saturday.

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