The Jets have reportedly brought in their potential starting quarterback for the upcoming season.
According to ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter, New York has acquired Geno Smith from the Raiders, sending a sixth-round pick to Vegas, who will also send the Jets a seventh-round pick in this year’s draft. According to multiple reports, the Raiders will eat a chunk of Smith’s salary to help facilitate the deal. Schefter noted that the Jets will pay him “just over veteran minimum.”
Smith was drafted in the second round by the Jets in 2013, and went 8-8 in his rookie season while throwing for 12 touchdowns and 21 interceptions. He was a disastrous 3-10 a year later, and was out the door by 2016. After brief stops as a backup with the Giants and Chargers, he blossomed into a two-time Pro Bowler in Seattle, leading the league in completion percentage in 2022 while throwing for 30 touchdowns against 11 picks en route to the Comeback Player of the Year award. He earned a lucrative $100 million contract as a result, but was traded to the Raiders three years later, where he led the league in interceptions for a pitiful Vegas team that won just two games with Smith under center.
The Jets will hope Smith, 35, will rediscover his form in Seattle and give the team production at quarterback, something the franchise has been searching for over a span of decades. Gang Green could turn to other unsigned veterans like Carson Wentz to compete for the starting job, but Smith will likely be under center come Week 1.