Why Geno Smith might ask Seahawks to trade or release him

How Geno Smith's upcoming contract deadlines might actually be incentives for him to tell Seahawks to trade him, or at least make it look that way 2/1/2024

In addressing takeaways from Mike Macdonald’s first press conference as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, there was a comment from a subscriber about Geno Smith’s contract situation that sparked a reply and an idea for me that I’ve had before with players in similar situations. It made me wonder if we’ve been looking at Geno’s tenuous situation from the wrong point of view: Maybe it’s the quarterback who sees an opportunity to separate from the team and not the other way around.

I’ll explain.

Six months before anyone else was even contemplating the Rams trading Jalen Ramsey, I noticed context clues in the player’s personality, his contract, and the team’s situation that led me to believe it would be his last season in L.A.. Even Ramsey laughed off rumors of his desire to be traded only to be sent to the Miami Dolphins in March and to then tweet that he had been “praying” for it to happen for weeks.

Step by step, everything that happened with Ramsey was as I had predicted it.

Geno’s situation with the Seahawks is different for a variety of reasons that I will get into, as well as I why I expect him to at least contemplate “asking” Seattle to “part ways”, but there are similarities with Ramsey just as there are similarities to the start of Russell Wilson’s final offseason with the franchise. It was only the timing of the Wilson trade that shocked people, not the deal itself.

Will Geno Smith be traded?

That’s probably not an answer that the Seahawks could even give right now because not only would they need a partner, the quarterback market needs clarity between now and several upcoming deadlines and Seattle’s regime needs to come together to decide the best course of action on how to proceed at “the most important position”, in the words of Macdonald.

But I’ll be the first to tell you that the decision to release Geno Smith from the contract he signed last year could actually come from his own camp, if not the other way around.

Here’s why I think Geno Smith could ask the Seahawks to release him if they can’t find a trade partner before his February 16 deadline…

Keep Reading

I told readers that with a new head coach comes a lot of new Seaside Joe bonus articles and that will include this one: If I can’t put my best exclusive takes behind the premium paywall, then what can I put there?

We’ve had a lot of new paid signups this month and page views from January are up more than 50% (!!!) from January of 2023 despite the Seahawks making the playoffs last year and missing the playoffs this year.

Thank you to our millions hundreds of new subscribers! When we reach 1,000 Regular Joes paid subscribers, I will add a regular live stream with questions and answers for members. At that point, Seaside Joe will literally become the most powerful Seahawks journalist on the planet because I solely judge people based on their annual income.

(I know sarcasm is more of an audio/video artform than written so…sarcasm.)

The more Regular Joes and Super Joes subscribers there are, the closer we get to these milestones. Thank you for your support!

Now here are all the clues and incentives I see that lead me to believe that Geno Smith might actually ASK the Seahawks to release him and not the other way around: