By Moose Flanagan | PigskinPressSports.com
Well, Raider Nation, I hope you like your quarterbacks slightly used with a hint of “maybe he’s good, maybe he’s not.” The Las Vegas Raiders just traded a third-round pick for Geno Smith, sending the veteran quarterback from Seattle to Sin City.
On one hand, Geno is a guy who has resurrected his career after spending years as an NFL afterthought. On the other, he’s a 33-year-old passer coming off a so-so season where Seahawks fans spent half the year wondering if they should bring back Drew Lock (which tells you all you need to know).
Look, Geno isn’t terrible—he’s solid. He’s like getting a used car with decent mileage, but the check engine light flickers when you hit 65 mph. Sure, he led the league in completion percentage in 2022, but he’s 34 years old. Now he’s heading to a Raiders team that still has no real offensive weapons outside of Brock Bowers.
If there’s any good news, Brock Bowers is coming off an All Pro season as a rookie in 2024, and if this offense is going to work, Geno better be looking his way on every single dropback. Because let’s be honest, Jakobi Meyers and Tre Tucker aren’t exactly striking fear into defensive coordinators.
The real kicker? The Raiders gave up a third-round pick for Geno. This means they passed up on the chance to draft a young, cheap prospect for the privilege of paying Geno Smith $25 million this year to maybe be slightly better than Aidan O’Connell.
At the end of the day, this move sums up the Raiders: Just good enough to convince themselves they’re building something, but probably not good enough to actually matter. But hey, at least they’re trying.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go watch highlights of 2002 Rich Gannon to remember what competent Raiders QB play looks like.
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