Geno Smith destined to get franchise tag from Seahawks in 2023
Things have been so weird in the NFL that fans have to be thinking on a weekly basis — pinch me, is this even real? Instead of being pinched, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith might end up getting slapped.
With the franchise tag, that is.
Geno Smith was taken somewhat surprisingly in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft out of West Virginia where he had a very successful career. He proved early on in the NFL that the league was right to leave him out of the top 32 picks as he ended up throwing a whopping 34 interceptions in his first two years on the job. Jameis Winston threw 30 in a single season not too long ago, so maybe that’s being too harsh on Geno, but that’s a lot of interceptions no matter what way you slice it.
After those first two seasons in New York with the Jets, Smith embarked on the “career backup” path. He spent four years with the Jets, a season with the Giants, a season with the Chargers, and then he signed on as Russell Wilson‘s backup with the Saints. It wasn’t until 2021 that Smith really got the opportunity to play extensively for the first time since we’d seen him as a young player with the Jets.
He showed some nice things despite the Seahawks only winning one out of the three games he started in 2021, throwing five touchdowns and over 68 percent completion rate.
The Seahawks traded Russell Wilson in 2022, opening the door for a quarterback competition between Geno Smith and Drew Lock. Smith won the competition and has shockingly become a Pro Bowl quarterback in his 9th NFL season.
Geno Smith 2022 Pro Bowl season key stats (through 15 games)
- 70.7 completion rate (512 passes in 15 games)
- 3,886 yards
- 27 touchdowns
- 9 interceptions
- 297 rushing yards, 1 TD
With two games remaining in the 2022 season, Smith has a shot to reach or exceed 30 touchdown passes, which is not an easy feat in the slightest. He might not hit double-digit interceptions. He’s almost undoubtedly going to exceed 4,000 passing yards.
The completion rate being over 70 percent is pretty incredible when you look at how he was under 60 percent in his first two NFL seasons.
Clearly, Geno Smith has made strides as a player and the sample size is now big enough that he deserves a substantial raise from his one-year, $3.5 million deal he’s currently working on with the Seahawks. But can the Seahawks make him a long-term deal?
Although the franchise tag isn’t preferable for really anyone — player or team — Geno Smith’s situation is one situation where you can see it making sense, especially from the team’s perspective.
Can the Seahawks make a long-term investment in Geno Smith? I think that’s a really tough call. There’s such a thing as being a victim of your own success. What Smith deserves after the level of play we’ve seen from him in 2022 is a long-term deal probably north of $100 million. That’s the way of things in the NFL nowadays, and a four-year contract worth even just $100 million straight up would be bordering on team-friendly.
The franchise tag value for the quarterback position in 2022 was just under $30 million so it’s likely to be at or north of $30 million in 2022. If the franchise tag starts at $30 million, there’s no reason Geno Smith’s agent (Chafie Fields) should be asking for anything less in terms of the average annual value on an extension from the Seahawks.
The Seahawks might prefer a short-term pact with Smith than a long-term pact and take this year-to-year unless they truly buy him as a long-term option.