In order to compete in the NFL, you must have the right player at quarterback, and the Las Vegas Raiders understood that. After bringing in Pete Carroll as head coach, they went out and traded for Geno Smith to be their new quarterback, who is very familiar with Carroll from their time together with the Seattle Seahawks.
While few would consider Smith to be an elite player at the position, he has been above average over the past few seasons and certainly represented an upgrade over the Raiders’ options a season ago. But despite the history between Smith and Carroll, and the love they have for each other, Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports 1 isn’t sold on the pairing and believes Smith wasn’t the first choice of the franchise, via Eduardo Raza of Heavy.com:
“I think Geno Smith and Pete Carroll are a weird pairing,” Cowherd said on the September 16 edition of “The Herd.” “Pete hates interceptions. And Geno is careless. He always has been. If you speed him up [like against the Chargers], three picks… I think it was a marriage of convenience. Chip Kelly was very familiar with Geno Smith. Pete Carroll was familiar with Geno Smith, but I don’t think he was their first or second choice…
“If you speed Geno up, he makes some bad decisions. And in New York, he was a disaster. In Seattle, it was a reclamation and a great story. But a great story doesn’t mean a great quarterback. So I think Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly are a little trapped here. They wanted [Matthew] Stafford. I think privately, they’d never admit it. They probably thought [Sam] Darnold, younger, in his prime, with some career momentum. But this is what they’ve got.”
There were certainly numerous rumors surrounding the possibility of the Raiders acquiring Matthew Stafford before he chose to remain with the Rams, and similarly, there were reports about the franchise looking to sign Sam Darnold in free agency; however, minority owner Tom Brady nixed that idea. If those reports are accurate, it can indeed be argued that the Raiders may have settled on Smith as the best option.
Regardless, he has proven that he can succeed with weapons around him, and the Raiders undoubtedly have some talented players, including Brock Bowers, Ashton Jeanty and Jakobi Meyers. They need to get on track and figure out how to best utilize their weapons, getting this offense clicking on all cylinders.
Raiders’ Geno Smith vows to improve after 3-INT performance vs. Chargers
Something that can’t continue to happen is performances like Geno Smith’s from Monday night, when he threw three interceptions in the Raiders’ loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. However, Smith has vowed to learn from those mistakes and improve going forward.
