When the Seattle Seahawks traded quarterback Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders in exchange for draft compensation, it was initially reported that the two sides were considerably far apart in contract negotiations.
New reporting from the Seattle Times’ Seahawks beat reporter Bob Condotta suggests that may not have been the case.
With a year left on his deal, Smith obviously wanted to be extended and with a pay raise. The developments that led to the trade really came about within the past week, with an interesting new wrinkle. Smith wanted an extension and a raise, and the Seahawks were willing to give it to him. Then this is where the story deviates from Breer’s reporting.
From Condotta’s article:
Contract talks became more serious last week at the NFL scouting combine when general manager John Schneider met with Smith’s agent, Chafie Fields. Schneider said that meeting was a week ago Friday.
The Seahawks, according to sources and numerous reports, then made Smith a firm contract offer this week.
The Seahawks’ offer was in the range of $35 million per year but Smith’s side wanted roughly $45 million, SI.com’s Albert Breer reported.
A league source told The Times that the Seahawks’ offer was higher, more in the range of a $40 million to $45 million average over two years.
Smith’s side was reported — and confirmed by The Times — to have turned down that offer while giving no counteroffer.
That caused the Seahawks to explore trade options.
In the interest of emphasizing this again since $40-45 million feels like sticker shock, in terms of average per year that is not in the top 10 among quarterbacks. If we use the lower bound then he’d be level with Matthew Stafford for 15th and then the upper bound is Kirk Cousins and Patrick Mahomes, of whom the latter signed his mammoth extension way back in 2020. Assuming a new deal for Josh Allen to replace his 2022 extension, Smith would’ve been toward the bottom-end of the non-rookie contract starting quarterbacks.
The Raiders are reportedly expected to give Smith that same $40 million-$45 million extension he supposedly turned down. Perhaps there was an issue over the length of the contract more than the money, but if Condotta’s reporting is true then it shows that the Seahawks were more than interested in retaining Smith’s services and that they weren’t far apart on the money. Without a counteroffer, it reads more like Smith wanted out and preferred to reunite with Pete Carroll in Las Vegas.
This trade will process on Wednesday when the new league year begins, after which at some point we’ll likely get some more clarity from one of the two parties regarding this departure.