Seahawks QB Guessing Game: Who’s best when you take away names?

Jun 21, 2022, 10:27 AM

Browns QB Baker Mayfield attempts to run past Seahawks LB Bobby Wagner in 2019. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)

(Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)

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Four names have been most commonly tied to the Seahawks’ quarterback role: Drew Lock, Geno Smith, Baker Mayfield, and more recently, Jimmy Garoppolo. Two of those four – Lock and Smith – are on the roster while the other two – Mayfield and Garoppolo – are sitting behind other starters and awaiting potential trades or releases.

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Each quarterback brings his own skill set and unique challenges to the starting role in Seattle, but can you tell who’s who with just a few simple stats and quotes?

Seahawks QB Guessing Game

• Quarterback A

This passer has the highest career completion percentage on this list (67%). That went up during his best season, where he completed nearly 70% of all pass attempts. At his best, he’s more than efficient – he’s just plain good. His single best game saw him throw for four touchdowns and 317 yards. The problem is one he shares with other names on this list: consistency. On his worst day as a pro, he connected on less than half of his pass attempts and threw three picks.

Said one former teammate: “He plays with swagger. He has his own swagger. He’s not walking around saying it, but he plays with swagger… (he’s) a natural leader.”

• Quarterback B

The only passer here to have finished a game with a perfect rating, this quarterback has a near-60% career completion percentage. One weird stat: He had games with that perfect passer rating and the lowest possible rating in the same season. His single best game saw him complete 80% of his pass attempts for 358 yards and three touchdowns, but in another game that year he threw three picks over just eight pass attempts.

Said one teammate: “He’s a competitor. He wants to win. I don’t think he was satisfied with the outcome of (bad) games… he wanted to win, and we’ll ride or die with him.”

• Quarterback C

A career completion percentage of 59.3% and a 79.3 career passer rating. His best day? He completed 21 of 27 attempts (77%) for four touchdowns. He’s struggled with accuracy and decision-making a times; at his lowest point, he led the league in bad throw percentage through nine weeks, with inaccurate balls on a quarter of all attempts according to Pro Football Reference. Still, his athleticism (and potential) remain tempting.

Said one head coach: “He has all kinds of plays in him, really a natural athlete, a natural thrower, and a natural movement guy.”

• Quarterback D

The only quarterback of these four to have thrown for five touchdowns in one game, this passer has a career completion percentage of 61.6%. His best single season was strongly correlated with having the most time in the pocket (2.7) and fewest pressures (101) of his career — go figure. But in one infamous outing he completed just 8 of 22 pass attempts and had three turnovers.