The Las Vegas Raiders have found their 2025 starting quarterback and new head coach Pete Carroll is familiar with him.
The Raiders have traded for quarterback Geno Smith in a deal with the Seattle Seahawks. They will give up one of their two third-round picks and give Smith a new contract.
Blockbuster: The #Seahawks are trading two-time Pro Bowl QB Geno Smith to the #Raiders for a 2025 third-round pick, sources tell The Insiders.
It’s a reunion for Pete Carroll and Smith, who also is expected to get a new contract. And Seattle will need a new QB. pic.twitter.com/K5X0ZlvX66
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 7, 2025
Smith, who will turn 35 in October, had one year remaining on his three-year, $75 million deal with the Seahawks.
The Raiders-Smith trade talk heated up in recent days. Carroll is clearly comfortable with Smith. The journeyman found his groove in Seattle, where he played from 2020-24 (the first four years under Carroll). Smith, who has often raved about Carroll’s influence on him, has been Seattle’s starter the past three seasons.
Smith is 40-43 as a career starter, but went 28-24 as Seattle’s starter. Smith threw for a career high 4,320 yards (a career high) with 21 touchdown passes and 15 interceptions in 2024. He also completed a career-high 70.4 percent of his passes last season.
The Raiders had been connected to fellow former Carroll starter Russell Wilson in addition to the likes of Sam Darnold, Aaron Rodgers and Justin Fields in free agency. They also tried to trade for Matthew Stafford last month.
While Smith solves this year’s starting quarterback question for the Raiders who have cut the Week 1 starter (Derek Carr, Jimmy Garoppolo and Gardner Minshew), Las Vegas will likely look at the draft next month as well.
The top prospects in the draft are Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders. Las Vegas has the No. 6 overall pick in the draft. Jaxson Dart of Ole Miss had a strong performance at the NFL combine and could be a target. There was a report that the Raiders like Quinn Ewers of Texas and could try to trade up for Ward.
The Raiders, who could opt to have incumbent Aidan O’Connell be the backup, could also consider Will Howard of Ohio State, who played under new Las Vegas offensive coordinator Chip Kelly in 2024.
But for now, this is Smith’s offense as Carroll digs into his past to begin his Raiders’ era.