To be totally transparent, I cannot say that I like either of these moves a great deal. While Pete Carroll was able to reunite with his guy Geno Smith on the Las Vegas Raiders, Sam Darnold was given the bag and then some to be his Seattle Seahawks successor. Smith went to the Raiders for a third-rounder over the weekend, as Darnold signed a three-year deal worth $110.5 million in free agency.
In their lengthy NFL careers, Smith has had about three good seasons in Seattle to Darnold's one last year with the Minnesota Vikings. I understand that Darnold is a good bit younger than Smith, but he will be without DK Metcalf in the Seahawks receiving corps, who plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers now. Again, I am not that crazy about either deal, but I can understand why both teams made them.
For Smith, Las Vegas is trading for him on an expiring contract worth $25 million in the last year of it before he hits free agency again. He wanted $45 million on a new deal and Seattle was willing to give him $35 million. As for Darnold, he is getting over $36.8 million in average annual value on his new deal. The interesting, and scary, part for me is only $55 million of that contract is fully guaranteed...
Without further ado, I am going to hand out grades to the two new quarterbacks for each franchise.
Grading Geno Smith, Sam Darnold contracts in early part of free agency
For Smith and Darnold, there is some overlap when it comes to coaching. Smith obviously reunites with his former Seahawks head coach in Carroll, while Darnold links up with his former offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak from their brief time together with the San Francisco 49ers in 2023. Darnold did not start for the 49ers. Brock Purdy did. Kyle Shanahan was the primary play-caller over Kubiak.
In short, Seattle was willing to pay nearly $2 million more per year to land Darnold than it was to keep Smith around on another contract. Darnold had the best year last season, but he was just as big of a disaster with the New York Jets as Smith was back in the day. My biggest concern with Seattle is should younger not be cheaper? The Seahawks are paying more for a greater unknown commodity.
Overall, I think I like the Smith deal more. He has more experience playing for Carroll than whatever loose connection we are trying to tie Darnold and Kubiak together with. If it works out for Smith and the Raiders, they could work together for an extension. If not, they can always draft a guy next year. For the time being, there is a great deal of flexibility with Smith to the Raiders than Darnold to Seattle.
Ultimately, there is still a chance that Darnold could be a revelation for the Seahawks. He may bring with him a refined sense of confidence that he can do anything. The division is in a state of flux, so maybe Seattle can pull a rabbit out of its head and win the thing? To be quite frank, I have been put off by pretty much everything Seattle has done this offseason. I am not sold in Mike Macdonald either.
To me, the Seahawks paid a gross premium for an average quarterback to get younger than Smith.
Geno Smith to Las Vegas Raiders Grade: B, as in better than whatever they had last season
Sam Darnold to Seattle Seahawks Grade: C, as in don't you see this is not a good deal at all?