Either of Drew Lock, Geno Smith could be a top-20 quarterback next season
Seaside Joe 1138: And what 12 personnel says about the Seahawks' draft plans
The Seahawks re-signed Geno Smith on Thursday and that should be enough to put first round quarterback talk to rest before the draft… emphasis on “should be” because obviously it won’t be for fans who can’t let go. If you’ve developed an affinity for a quarterback in the draft (and there’s nothing wrong with that) because you had the expectation that one was in play for the first three picks, then you’re going through the same coping mechanisms required to get past the Deshaun Watson, Matt Ryan, and Colin Kaepernick speculation situations already.
Here at Seaside Joe, we’ve accepted Drew Lock as Seattle’s potential starting quarterback since the day that the team traded Russell Wilson for a package that included him and Pete Carroll emphasized that they really like him.
“When Drew came out of college — we made our assessments and evaluated him [for] the draft — we saw him as a big, strong-armed, mobile, aggressive, athletic quarterback,” Carroll said Tuesday. “He had thrown a ton of footballs. He had a very aggressive program where you got to see him do everything … and we really liked what we saw. We can still see that. We see that right now when we watch the film.”
Signing Smith to a contract that can pay him up to $7 million—considerably more than was expected for a career backup who stalled out the offense last season with the exception of playing against the worst team in the NFL—is a symbolic gesture that says, “Hey fans, this is one of our two quarterbacks for next season.” The other is Lock.