Schlereth weighs in on Geno Smith’s future with Seahawks

Dec 26, 2024, 4:00 PM | Updated: 8:58 pm

Seattle Seahawks Geno Smith looks to pass Minnesota Vikings 2024...

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith looks to pass against the Vikings on Sunday. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Seattle Sports

All year long, one storyline has hovered in the background for the Seattle Seahawks: What is Geno Smith’s future with the franchise?

Brock: Why it’s so hard to evaluate Seahawks QB Geno Smith

Smith is signed with the Seahawks through 2025, having inked a three-year, $75 million contract extension in March 2023. But the 34-year-old veteran quarterback’s deal doesn’t include any guaranteed money after this season, which essentially places him and the franchise in a year-to-year relationship.

According to Over The Cap, Smith’s salary cap hit increases from $26.4 million this season to $38.5 million in 2025. That puts Seattle in a scenario where it likely will need to decide this offseason whether to extend Smith on a restructured deal or cut ties.

It has the potential to be a very difficult decision for the Seahawks, especially given the up-and-down nature of Smith’s season.

On Monday, NFL on FOX analyst and former Super Bowl-winning offensive lineman Mark Schlereth weighed in on the Smith discourse during his weekly conversation on Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob. Schlereth referenced the breakout season Smith had with the Seahawks in 2022, while also pointing to the challenges of finding a better option at quarterback. The 2025 NFL Draft doesn’t feature a particularly strong quarterback class, and it’s not easy to strike gold in free agency like the Minnesota Vikings did this year with Sam Darnold.

“We’ve seen (Geno) be absolutely brilliant,” Schlereth said. “A couple years ago, he was brilliant. (He had) an All-Pro type of performance and was brilliant in that offense. And so I would say this: What’s the alternative? Who are you gonna go get? Are you gonna go get somebody in the draft? Is there somebody in free agency? Is there another Sam Darnold out there that’s gonna have this breakout year?”

This season, Smith ranks third in the NFL with 3,937 passing yards. He ranks fourth with a 70.1% completion rate. He’s fifth with 27 big-time throws – a Pro Football Focus metric that measures high-difficulty, high-value passes. And he continues to excel in crunch time, sitting near the top of the league with three fourth-quarter comebacks and three game-winning drives.

But on the flip side, Smith has committed too many costly mistakes. He is tied for second in the league with 15 interceptions, including a league-high four red-zone picks. His ESPN QBR metric has declined as a result, falling from seventh in 2022 to 14th in 2023, and now 21st out of 33 quarterbacks this season.

However, there are lots of interconnected factors that make it difficult to truly evaluate Smith’s play.

For one, he plays behind a struggling offensive line that ranks 25th in PFF’s pass block grading. Also, the Seahawks have had one of the league’s least productive rushing attacks, which has enabled defenses to hone in on Smith and the team’s passing attack. In addition, there’s been some growing pains for Smith and the rest of the offense under first-year offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, who is coaching in the NFL for the first time after spending the past two decades at the college level.

“All of a sudden, we’re bringing in a collegiate coach to coach a professional offense with an offensive line that you guys have talked about not playing very well,” Schlereth said. “All these different things kind of all pile up, and the easiest guy to see from a blame standpoint is the quarterback. So we point to that guy and go, ‘Well, he’s not very good.’

“And I would say, ‘Well, there’s a lot of other factors that go into that.'”

Schlereth pointed to Smith’s 2022 season as evidence that he can excel when surrounded with adequate pieces.

In 2022, Smith led the league in completion rate (69.8%), ranked fourth in touchdown passes (30) and finished eighth in passing yards (4,282). It’s likely no coincidence that Seattle had a better offensive line that year, ranking 20th in PFF pass block grading. And the Seahawks had a more productive ground attack, ranking 18th in rushing yards per game.

“He’s proven in the right system, with the right people around him, that he can be exceptional,” Schlereth said. “And I would lean more toward that than going out there and (acquiring) some guy that you think is going to all of a sudden have that Sam Darnold-type ascension. I just don’t think that’s really realistic.”

Listen to the full conversation with Mark Schlereth at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.