Tag: Geno Smith

Panthers HC Dave Canales has high praise for Geno Smith

Panthers HC Dave Canales has high praise for Geno Smith

The Seattle Seahawks have arguably one of the more underappreciated starters at quarterback. Geno Smith, a two-time Pro Bowler and 2022 Comeback Player of the Year, has led Seattle to back to back winning seasons and set an NFL record for five-game winning drives last year. Yet, he still largely goes untalked about on a national level, and when he does, it is often dismissive.

However, there are those who certainly understands the skillset Geno Smith brings to the Seahawks. Current Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales recently sat down with Peter Schrager on his podcast, and naturally Canales’ time in Seattle was brought up. Canales’ meteoric rise to the head coach position began as a quarterbacks coach for the Seahawks. His final season with Seattle was in 2022, where he witnessed the emergence of Smith.

Canales’ comments in full can be seen in the tweet below.

Under Canales’ tutelage, Smith had the best season of his career thus far. His 2022 season saw him pass for 4,282 yards, 30 touchdowns against only 11 interceptions. His 2023 numbers did take a bit of a hit. Injuries, offensive inconsistencies, and perhaps even the absense of Canales himself (who went on to the be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator) all contributed to Smith’s statistical regression.

Still, Smith has all the physical tools and offensive weapons to forge another strong season. Hopefully, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb can help find a way to get Smith and the offense rolling in a more consistent fashion in 2024.

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Geno Smith reminisces about the 2012 Orange Bowl and his grandmother

Geno Smith reminisces about the 2012 Orange Bowl and his grandmother

In many ways, 2012 feels like it was yesterday, and in others, a lifetime away. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith took to Twitter on his trip down memory lane in regards to the 2012 Orange Bowl.

Winding the clock back, a young Geno Smith was merely a junior at West Virginia. Smith had helped guide the Mountaneers to a respectable 9-3 regular season record as co-champions of the Big East. The calendar had barely flipped to January, and West Virginia was about to take on Clemson in the Orange Bowl.

Clemson, No. 15 was the designated home team and a three-point favorite. What happened next ended up being one of the most lopsided bowl games in recent memory.

Smith absolutely torched the Tigers, completing 32-of-43 passes for 407 yards and six touchdowns. Smith also racked up an additional 26 yards on the ground as well as a rushing touchdown. It was the first time a team had scored 70 points in a bowl game, and it was a record that stood until Army matched the total in the 2018 Armed Forces Bowl.

As for Smith’s personal connection, the memory of his grandmother seeing the last game of his live will surely be the thing he remembers most. January 4th, 2012 is certainly one of the more memorable moments in his career and life in football.

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Watch: Geno Smith is a master at avoiding sacks

Watch: Geno Smith is a master at avoiding sacks

Geno Smith is a two-time Pro Bowl quarterback, led the NFL in game-winning drives last year with five (a league record, by the way), and even set the Seahawks single-season passing yards record.

Yet there are still plenty of folks who do not have faith in him as a starter, even perhaps those among the 12th Man. The Seahawks offense was nowhere near as potent or consistent as it was in 2022, but that was hardly the problem of Geno Smith.

Seattle’s offensive line was decimated by injuries from literally the first week. Smith, and Drew Lock for two games, were constantly running for their lives as best they could. Still, what Smith was able to work with despite a sieve up front remains impressive.

The Seahawks took great lengths during the draft to make sure they had an improved line. They selected the best guard available in Christian Haynes, then picked Sataoa Laumea, a four year starter from Utah.

Hopefully with Haynes and Laumea supporting a healthy Charles Cross and Abe Lucas the Seahawks can avoid a similar situation in 2024.

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Geno Smith gets some competition, but will it even matter in fantasy football?

The Seattle Seahawks were expected to make a big splash were they parted with Russell Wilson in 2022. Instead, then-head coach Pete Carroll said he had the replacement in-house – veteran journeyman Geno Smith.

Smith was a pleasant surprise in 2022, throwing for almost 4,300 yards and 30 touchdowns. He took a backward step in 2023, dropping to 20 touchdown passes in 15 games. With Carroll gone, the loyalty to Smith isn’t as strong and the Seahawks showed that by swinging a trade with the Washington Commanders to acquire Sam Howell, who started every game last year.

For now, it is Smith’s starting job to lose, but the front office has made it clear that there is a succession plan in place.

Geno Smith shared this 138-second highlight reel of DK Metcalf

Watch and enjoy.

One of many reasons to be excited about new Seahawks offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb is seeing what he can get out of QB1 Geno Smith and WR1 DK Metcalf, who are already pretty, pretty good.

Over the weekend, Geno shared this DK highlight reel, courtesy of Ian Hartitz. Watch and enjoy.

Since he was drafted Metcalf has established himself as one of the league’s most-consistent receivers, but he still hasn’t quite lived up to his full potential. If new head coach Mike Macdonald and his staff are as good as advertised, they should be able to get the most out of Metcalf in a way Pete Carroll’s teams never did. Getting No. 14 fully focused and playing at an elite level would be a significant step towards closing the gap with other contenders around the NFC.

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NFC West quarterbacks ranked league’s second-best by NFL.com

Earlier this week NFL.com ranked all eight divisions around the league on the strength of their starting quarterbacks.

The NFC West remains one of the toughest divisions in the NFL going into 2024. One reason it’s such a strong division is the QB play, which is well above average everywhere outside Santa Clara – where it doesn’t seem to matter. Earlier this week NFL.com ranked all eight divisions around the league on the strength of their starting quarterbacks.

The AFC North came in first, headlined by Lamar Jackson in Baltimore, Joe Burrow in Cincinnati, Deshaun Watson in Cleveland and the combo of Russell Wilson and Justin Fields in Pittsburgh. The NFC West’s quartet of starters came in second on the list, with Seahawks backup QB Sam Howell also getting a shout-out from Eric Edholm.

“All four starters are established. I also listed Howell, a 17-game starter for the Commanders last season, because I believe the Seahawks want someone to push Smith after the veteran slid back a bit last season. Geno’s 2022 campaign was a career-changer, but getting back to that level of play — in a new offensive system — won’t be automatic. I’ll be a bit surprised if Howell doesn’t start games for Seattle this season…”

Interesting stuff. As far as we know Geno Smith has a very strong lead for the QB1 position in  Seattle, but there’s a fair amount of smoke and rumors around Sam Howell as a potential successor, perhaps as soon as this year. We’ll believe that when we see it, but as far as 2025 goes all bets are off.

As for the rest of the division, Matt Stafford is not getting any younger but he’s still good enough to deserve another big contract. Kyler Murray looked to be his old self again last season after he returned from a major knee injury, and he’s the only reason Arizona will win more than three games this year. Brock Purdy isn’t very good, but he has an obscene amount of talent around him to prop him up and minimize his mistakes. If Purdy grows into a legitimate starter Seattle is screwed. Until then, there’s still a window.

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This is one take we’ll have to agree to disagree on.

Saying you know what will happen in the future for the NFL is a good way to end up being wrong. That said, some ideas that get floated this time of year are pretty easily dismissed when put to any kind of scrutiny. It is admittedly a burden to come up with new content every single day of the year, but the takes we are subjected to in June and July tend to border on the absurd.

The new strangest take in the NFL conversation landscape comes from two normally smart and trusted analysts. Here’s Nick Korte from Over the Cap speculating that the Seahawks could be one of the teams in the mix to sign Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott in free agency next year should he hit the open market.

Not long after, Bill Barnwell at ESPN doubled down on that, including Seattle in his list of potential Prescott-curious teams if their quarterback situation turns out bad this year.

We like both Barnwell and Korte, but this is one we’ll have to agree to disagree on.

For one thing, the only way the Seahawks QB situation disappoints in 2024 will be if Geno Smith suffers a major injury and Sam Howell can’t improve on what he did last year regarding ball security. Smith has been a reliable fringe-top-10 starter the last two seasons, he still moves extremely well for an athlete his age and it’s unlikely Smith will suffer a sudden regression at this stage of his career, unless his body begins to break down.

That shouldn’t be a problem for Smith, who is technically 33 years old now but whose body hasn’t taken nearly the kind of punishment a normal 33-year old NFL quarterback has by this time in their careers. Remember, from 2015 to 2022 Smith was relegated to the bench, playing behind a bunch of QBs, a list including Russell Wilson, Eli Manning, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Philip Rivers. Smith’s bones should have at least a few more good years of competing in the NFL and his football IQ guarantees it will be at no less than an average level compared to other starting quarterbacks around the league.

More importantly, trading for Dak Prescott would very much go against the grain for general manager John Schneider and his history of QB acquisitions. Investing a massive amount of draft capital or spending big in free agency for a quarterback just isn’t part of his team-building DNA.

To recap: Matt Flynn only signed a cheap three-year, $19.5 million deal, Russell Wilson was a third-round pick, Tarvaris Jackson and Geno Smith were both reclamation projects, Drew Lock was an afterthought in the Wilson trade and they got Sam Howell for the equivalent of a seventh-round pick.  At no point have they been a true serious contender to either trade for or sign a big-name, big-money kind of QB.

That means we can forget Prescott, who will command around $60 million per year once he signs his new contract, either in Dallas or wherever he winds up going. Meanwhile, Geno Smith – who was brilliant and went toe-to-toe with Prescott in their 2023 shootout – costs Seattle less than half that amount ($25 million per year). Until his game really starts to drop off it’s going to be very difficult to find a better value at this position.

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Seahawks general manager John Schneider definitely has a type at the quarterback position.

One thing has become abundantly clear over the years: Seahawks general manager John Schneider definitely has a type at the quarterback position. While Russell Wilson, Geno Smith, Drew Lock and Sam Howell all have their own unique styles, pros and cons, one thing they all have in common is that their aggressiveness slider is pumped all the way to the top.

Geno Smith might take the title as the most aggressive in the group. Over the last two seasons he has led the league in big time throw rate. This past season he just barely beat out Matt Stafford by one tenth of a percentage point. Smith also did a superb job of avoiding sacks and throwing the ball well while under pressure.

Smith may be getting a bit old (33) to consider him the team’s long-term starter. However, in recent years Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Matt Stafford have all proven that some QBs can play at an elite level well into their late 30s, and even beyond in some cases. Smith also has an advantage in that his body hasn’t taken nearly as much punishment as those GOATs did, having mostly stood on the sidelines from 2015-2021.

The Seahawks might really be in love with Sam Howell, and the way Smith’s contract is structured there is a strong incentive to cut him next year and save $25 million in cap room. However, it’s going to be damn-difficult to find another quarterback who can perform at the same level Geno has these last couple of years at this price. As long as Smith continues to perform like this, it might be best to let him keep on going rather than starting over with a younger QB. This bridge quarterback situation might end up being the longest bridge in league history.

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Geno Smith can’t wait for fans to see the 2024 Seattle Seahawks

Geno Smith can’t wait for fans to see the 2024 Seattle Seahawks

Hope springs eternal in the NFL. It is one of the biggest reasons why professional football is far and away the most popular sport in America. Going into every season, each fanbase has a belief if their team gets a few lucky breaks, they can be a competitive squad… or more.

This sentiment is certainly shared by the players, and the Seattle Seahawks are no different. Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith tweeted out this week his excitement for where he is at, and where he believes Seattle is as well. Needless to say, Smith is rather excited.

I believe it is safe to say the 12th Man is excited to see this team themselves. For as beloved as Pete Carroll was, (and well, still is) even his most ardent supporters (I count myself among these ranks) would admit the team had gotten a tad stagnant these last few years to say the least. Right now, there is a much-needed fresh breath of excitement in the air regarding this team.

For the first time in nover two decades, we have no idea what to truly expect from the new look Seahawks. How will Mike Macdonald fare as a head coach? Can he fix this defense? Will Ryan Grubb finally get the most out of a talented offense? Can Geno Smith be the one to take this team to the next level? I for one am thrilled to find out.

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Jaxon Smith-Njigba thinks Seahawks can have NFL’s best offense

Jaxon Smith-Njigba thinks Seahawks can have NFL’s best offense

In 2022 the Seattle Seahawks seemed to surprise the NFL world by fielding one of the more explosive units in the league. Seattle took a bit of a step back last year due to injuries and inconsistent playcalling. But with a brand new coaching staff, there is optimism that the Seahawks can once again be a unit feared by defenses.

This is a sentiment second-year wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba has. JSN recently spoke to the media and gave his lofty prediction for what Seattle can achieve on his side of the ball.

This is certainly a tall order, but perhaps not as unachievable as some might think! Yes, it will be hard to be better than the Miami Dolphins or even the San Francisco 49ers, but look at what the Seahawks are working with: DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, the aforementioned JSN, Kenneth Walker III, Zach Charbonnet and Noah Fant. Of course, led by two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Geno Smith. This is hardly an emtpy cupboard for offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb to work with.

And that’s the second point: Ryan Grubb brings a level of excitement from a coaching perspective at the position fans have not had in a while. At the University of Washington, Grubb’s offense was arguably the best in the nation. For the last few years, the Seahawks have lacked that high-profile coordinator other teams have coveted. Perhaps Grubb can be this for Seattle.

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