Raiders Have a Fearless QB in Geno Smith

The Las Vegas Raiders added their quarterback of the immediate future this offseason by trading for Geno Smith.

Las Vegas sent the Seattle Seahawks a third-round pick to reunite Smith with Pete Carroll. The two enjoyed moderate success together for two seasons, reaching the playoffs in 2022.

The Raiders have dealt with poor quarterback play since Derek Carr left in 2023, cycling through signal-callers and never finding an answer. General Manager John Spytek immediately found an answer to the team’s most pressing need.

Not only did the Raiders experience bad QB play last season, but Aidan O’Connell, Gardner Minshew II, and Desmond Ridder failed to create explosive plays. Smith will rectify that in 2025.

The Raiders’ previous quarterbacks were afraid to take risks and push the ball downfield. And when they did, bad things happened.

Smith has a strong arm and confidence in his talent. He will be unafraid to take big risks if they lead to rewards.

Pro Football Focus has a metric called ‘big time throws,’ graded as ‘high-difficulty, high-value’ passes. For example, if a quarterback is under pressure and he avoids that pressure and completes a pass into a tight window, that’s a big-time throw.

Smith made 28 big-time throws in 2024. Minshew, O’Connell, and Ridder combined for 21.

Raiders fans will have to live with turnovers, as with risks come consequences. Smith led the NFL in red zone interceptions with five last season.

However, with the bad comes lots of good. Smith is one of the best pure passers in the NFL, a much better processor and precision thrower than any of Minshew, O’Connell, or Ridder.

There will be offensive heights with Smith that the Raiders never reached with their previous three quarterbacks. Smith raises the offense’s floor, but he also elevates its ceiling.

It is unknown just how many wins Smith will add to this Raiders team, but Las Vegas is unquestionably better because he is the starting quarterback. His fearlessness and ability to make difficult throws will endear him to fans quickly.

The Raiders will be fun to watch this season, and Smith will be a large reason for that. Fans should be excited about what Smith will bring when it comes to explosive plays.

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