Seahawks to keep Geno Smith on roster and guarantee 2024 salary, per report
Will Seahawks trade Geno Smith this year or keep him as a bridge quarterback? Seaside Joe 1811
The Seattle Seahawks are not going to release Geno Smith this week and that triggers the guarantee on his $12.7 million base salary for 2024, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The move does not guarantee that Geno will be the Seahawks starting quarterback next season, but obviously increases the odds because releasing him would have assured a change.
The Seahawks still have options ahead with Geno Smith, even with his guarantee kicking in.
Seattle owes Geno Smith a $9.6 million roster bonus in March, which means that this is basically a $22.3 million decision, not $12.7 million. However, if the Seahawks pay him his roster bonus he then becomes a pretty attractive trade candidate if it turns out that another franchise wants a cheap starting quarterback: The new team would only need pay him the $12.7 million and technically Seattle could also offer to pay part of that too.
Would Geno be worth a first round pick in trade?
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That would seem unlikely because there were definitely points in 2023 when it seemed the Seahawks might at least consider making a switch to Drew Lock. But as a $12.7 million starting quarterback, a team that needs a quarterback would create a lot of flexibility with the rest of the roster and salary cap. In 2016, the Eagles were able to get a first and a fourth for Sam Bradford, who I don’t think was a better QB then than Geno is now, after the Vikings lost Teddy Bridgewater for the season (and beyond) in training camp.
The other clear option here for Seattle is that Geno is a bridge quarterback if the team has the opportunity to draft one in 2024 who they really like. The roster bonus is what it is, it’s cash that the team isn’t short on, but the salary cap is very manageable.
And finally, the Seahawks might just want to have Geno and Lock be their two quarterbacks in 2024 and there won’t be any changes at all.
If I am Lock, do I want to sign to be a backup to Geno? I think Lock will want to look for an opportunity to start... somewhere... if he can. I was hoping that Lock would be the "bridge" QB for whomever the Seahawks drafted this year.
But "sign and trade" might actually be the plan with Geno. There is always Denver.
Geno might not be a Super Bowl "winning" QB, but he could be a Super Bowl "not losing" QB. There have been the smatterings of QBs who were on SB winning teams that were not dynamic league MVP guys. Yes, Geno has had too many cringe-worthy sacks and turnover-worthy plays, but he has been very accurate and clutch-ish for leading comeback wins. Give the guy a defense and see what we can do. He is also paid a very reasonable price for an above-average QB, even after these bonuses kick-in.
I like the idea of keeping him, signing Drew, and drafting a QB. Then, as someone else said above, rinse and repeat to maximize the play at the position until we get a superstar there. However, if we trade him for a mini-haul, I'll back John for that, too.