Tag: geno smith mvp

Geno Smith makes the hardest parts of quarterbacking look all too easy

Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith is a legitimate MVP candidate. Why? Because he makes the hardest things look all too easy.

Nobody in the NFL expected this. Except for Geno Smith.

Through the first half of the 2022 NFL season, the Seattle Seahawks’ starting quarterback has completed 207 of 283 passes for 2,199 yards, 15 touchdowns, four interceptions, and a passer rating of 107.2. Smith ranks fifth in the NFL in both DVOA and DYAR. His completion rate of 73.1%, if Smith is able to hold that up, would rank third in NFL history behind Drew Brees’ 74.4% in 2018, and 74.3% in 2019. Lest you think that high rate of efficiency means that the 10-year NFL veteran is just checking it down, Smith also leads the league with nine touchdown passes of 20 or more air yards.

Smith has become one of the NFL’s best, most complete, and most consistent quarterbacks, which is what nobody except Smith thought would happen. Since he was selected with the 39th overall pick in the second round of the 2013 draft out of West Virginia by the New York Jets, Smith had been far better-known for his failures than his successes.

But now? Smith, who’s on a one-year, $3.5 million deal with $500,000 guaranteed, is fully in the discussion as one of the most remarkable later-career quarterbacks in the history of professional football, right up there with Kurt Warner and Jim Plunkett. He has turned the Seahawks’ offense into something very much in his own image, and the city of Seattle has gone from wondering how long it would take its professional football team to replace Russell Wilson, to wondering who that Russell Wilson guy was in the first place.

“It’s amazing that everybody gets to see him and recognize him, and they have recognized him this quickly,” Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said last Friday, soon after Smith was named NFC Offensive Player of the Month for October. “I mean, right out of the chutes in the first couple of weeks, everybody was talking about him and all, and he has just stacked one on top of another, and has played really solid football for us. We are really counting on him, and it’s a real honor for him to be recognized like that. When you are sitting there for three to four years, you are just waiting for that chance and just keep thinking, ‘Boom,’ sleep at night, and hoping you get an opportunity. If it doesn’t come, it doesn’t come, and finally when it does, you just kill it. It’s a beautiful thing. We just keep going, more days, and more stacking, and see what we can get done.”

Here’s what else Smith has gotten done: He is among the NFL’s best quarterbacks this season not only in the standard stats, but also in the metrics that indicate the hardest things for quarterbacks to get right to a high degree over a long period of time.

That’s where the Geno Smith story advances — it’s not about this or that thing, it’s about everything. Let’s dive into how Smith makes the hardest parts of quarterbacking look easy.

(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus, Sports Info Solutions, and Football Outsiders unless otherwise indicated). 

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