Geno Smith
Geno Smith and the Las Vegas Raiders open the season against the New England Patriots on September 7, 2025.
On Wednesday June 4, 2025, Bleacher Report released an article by national NFL writer Brad Gagnon entitled “Describing Every NFL Team’s Nightmare 2025 Season in 1 Sentence or Less”.
Most of Gagnon’s worst-case scenarios for each team involved key players getting hurt or going through a major regression, but his take on the Las Vegas Raiders was a complete reversal of that trend.
He thinks that if the Raiders play well this season, it spells complete disaster for their franchise.
“Geno Smith and a decent core help the Raiders win enough games to lack great first-round draft capital in pursuit of a franchise quarterback in 2026,” Gagnon wrote as the nightmare situation for Raiders fans in 2025.
Clearly, Gagnon doesn’t think that current Las Vegas starting quarterback Geno Smith can lead the team to sustained success — and doesn’t have any faith in any of the Raiders’ current backups like Aidan O’Connell panning out either.
The Raiders Invested a Lot in Geno Smith this Offseason
Gagnon’s low opinion of Geno Smith seems to directly contradict how the Raiders franchise feels about him.
The Raiders gave up quite a bit to make Geno Smith their next starting quarterback. They traded a 2025 third-round pick to the Seattle Seahawks for Smith, then immediately gave him a two-year, $85.5 million extension to keep him under team control through the 2027 season. That’s at least three years of the Silver and Black paying Smith starter-level money.
Smith has made two Pro Bowls in the past three seasons and led Seattle to a winning record all three of those years as well, so he has proven his ability to be a winning quarterback. And at 34 years old, Smith seemingly has the capability to play several more years in the NFL.
Head Coach Pete Carroll and Offensive Coordinator Chip Kelly each have a long history of knowing Smith, and in Carroll’s case, he coached Smith in Seattle. They seem to be all-in on Smith.
Despite all this, Gagnon thinks that better options exist for the Raiders among the 2026 NFL Draft class.
If the Raiders Draft a QB, Who are the options?
There is still lots of time for the 2026 NFL draft class to take shape; not a single down of college football has yet been played in the 2025 season.
But as of right now the clear No. 1 option for any NFL team is likely to be Texas quarterback Arch Manning.
Manning, the nephew of NFL legends Peyton Manning and Eli Manning, has displayed the kinds of natural talent both running and throwing the football to have NFL scouts salivating, and his marketability with the last name Manning makes him an even more clear fit to be a team’s franchise player.
Beyond Manning, Penn State quarterback Drew Allar and South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers bring extensive natural talent and big conference experience to any NFL team. Those three guys especially could merit strong consideration from Las Vegas this offseason if Smith doesn’t pan out and they possess a high draft pick.
But what teams want to do most of all is win as soon as they can. And if Smith can make the Raiders a competitive team in 2025 and beyond, why overthink things? There will be plenty more opportunities to draft a quarterback in subsequent seasons if sticking with Smith presents itself as a good option.