Seattle Seahawks GM acknowledges Tampa Bay ties to Geno Smith

Tampa Bay's acquisition of Dave Canales as Offensive Coordinator could be beneficial to the franchise in more ways than one. Canales is bringing over a decade of experience that he earned under head coach Pete Carroll in Seattle as wide receivers coach, quarterbacks coach, and passing game coordinator. He was a member of a staff that won a Super Bowl and worked with a couple of standout quarterbacks, Russell Wilson and Geno Smith.

Smith is coming off a breakout campaign where he led the NFL in completion percentage and was named to the Pro Bowl for the first time in his professional career. He was honored as Comeback Player of the Year after completing 69.8% of his passes for 4,282 yards with 30 touchdowns to 11 interceptions. He also added 366 yards and a score on the ground. All of this came with Canales as his quarterbacks coach.

Shortly after news broke that Canales was being hired by the Buccaneers, Smith reacted positively. It's clear that mutual respect has developed between the two after three years of working together.

Seahawks GM John Schneider acknowledged the relationship between Canales and a couple of quarterbacks who have ties to the Seahawks that are currently free agents in Smith and Drew Lock.

"Obviously, Dave has a great relationship with Drew and Geno," Schneider said according to Seattle Sports 710AM. "Shoot, he did a great job working with Geno (and) staying after practice with Drew.

"Those guys would work their tails off for a good hour, hour and a half after practice. They'd be out there in the dark throwing the ball, working on footwork and ball carriage and everything. …free agency doesn't start until the middle of March so there's a huge period here where we have time to work through things," Schneider continued.

The new league year doesn't begin for a couple more weeks so the Seahawks still have time to come to an agreement with Smith before another franchise can officially pursue him.

"Good talks so far," Schneider said. "We're in it. We're just trying to figure out what's best, and we'll do what's right."

It's in Seattle's best interest to retain the veteran to continue continuity at the position moving forward. 2023 will mark the second season since the Seahawks made a massive trade with Denver to move on from former star Russell Wilson.

At this time, the Seahawks are the early winner in the trade after the Broncos compiled a 5-12 record and moved on from their previous head coach for Sean Payton.

Tampa Bay is in the market for a quarterback after Tom Brady retired at the beginning of the month. The Buccaneers only have Kyle Trask under contract but could pursue a signal-caller through the draft, a trade, or in free agency.

Could the franchise open up some cap space and convince Smith to move down south?

Stick with BucsGameday for more coverage of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throughout the 2023 offseason.

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