After Struggling For Years, Geno Smith Is Thriving In Starting Role With Seattle Seahawks

On Sept. 9, 2013, the New York Jets defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 18-17, in the season opener thanks to a late hit with seven seconds remaining on rookie quarterback Geno Smith. After the penalty, Jets kicker Nick Folk made a 48-yard field goal, securing the victory for a team considered one of the NFL’s worst entering the season.

For Smith, that win was an auspicious start to his career, but it proved fleeting. Yes, Smith started his first two seasons with the Jets, but he struggled. Over the ensuing seven years, he served as a backup for four teams.

Now, for the first time since 2014, Smith is a first-string quarterback, and he’s unexpectedly thriving in that role for the Seattle Seahawks.

Entering Sunday’s game at the New Orleans Saints, Smith leads the NFL with a 77.3% completion percentage and is third with a 108 quarterback rating. He has thrown for 1,037 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions.

Smith, who turns 32 on Monday, is also tops in a few accuracy-related advanced stats, per the Pro Football Reference website. He leads the league with only 6.2% of his pass attempts being deemed as “poor” excluding spikes and throwaways and with 82.9% of his throws being deemed “on-target.”

Smith’s re-emergence has been one of the most surprising aspects of this NFL season. After the Seahawks traded Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos in March, the team had an opening for a starter. But Smith was no shoo-in even though he was Wilson’s backup the previous three years and had started three games last season when Wilson was injured.

During the preseason, the Seahawks had an open competition between Smith and Drew Lock, whom they had acquired in the Wilson trade months earlier. Lock had started for the Broncos last season, and he is six years younger than Smith. Still, after the Seahawks’ preseason finale on Aug. 26, they announced that Smith won the starting job, an opportunity he thought may never come again after serving as a backup for so long.

“You know, if (starting again) never happened, I would have been satisfied with my career,” Smith told reporters after the Aug. 26 game. “I’ve always done my best. Sometimes, God doesn’t put things in the cards for you.”

He added: “Satisfaction is not really the word for me here. I’m grateful, but at the same time, I’m preparing to go out there and win games.”

Despite the feel-good nature of Smith starting again, no one expected much from him or the Seahawks. After all, Smith was probably best known for getting his jaw broken in August 2015 when a Jets teammate hit him over a $600 debt, according to the New York Post.

The Seahawks entered this season with a projected over-under win total of 5.5, tied with the Jets for the third-worst in the NFL. The Atlanta Falcons and Houston Texans were the only two teams with worse projections.

Now, though, the Seahawks are 2-2, the same record as each of its three NFC West rivals: the San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals.

Seattle opened the season with a 17-16 victory over Denver, a game in which Smith completed 23 of 28 passes for 195 yards and received cheers from a home crowd that also booed Wilson. Smith had another strong outing last Sunday, completing 23 of 30 attempts for 320 yards and two touchdowns and running for 49 yards and an 8-yard touchdown in the Seahawks’ 48-45 victory over the Detroit Lions. He was named the NFC’s Offensive Player of the Week for that performance.

“Geno played some spectacular football,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll told reporters after the game. “Spectacular football. Not just the throwing and the catching, but the command of the game and running the whole show. He did an incredible job…Fantastic day.”

Seahawks receiver D.K. Metcalf added: “(Shoot), he’s been on fire all year. He keeps building, keeps getting better week by week, and our chemistry keeps growing, and we’re finally building an identity for ourselves.”

Smith’s emergence has been a surprising and welcome sight for a Seahawks franchise that has won just one playoff game in the past five years. It’s still too early to project Seattle as a playoff team, as it plays in a challenging division. Still, for now, Smith’s start to the season remains an unforeseen positive for the team and its fan base, although Smith claims it doesn’t surprise him.

“I’ve made nothing of it,” Smith told reporters on Thursday. “I’m just playing ball. I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”