Sam Darnold ahead of Geno Smith in NFL QB rankings, but not by much

Total chaos is the situation when it comes to evaluating the Seattle Seahawks moving from Geno Smith to Sam Darnold at the quarterback position. Over the last two weeks, practically every side and angle of the change has been taken by some analyst or another. Some think Seattle got a downgrade at QB, others are calling it a lateral move and some (like us) believe the Seahawks got better.

These arguments are usually in a vacuum, though - without having to actually place Darnold and Smith relative to the other 30 projected starters around the league. Today we finally have one to go on, as Rotoballers recently ranked the NFL's 32 QB1s. According to their list, Geno Smith is the 20th-best quarterback in the league right now.

Rotoballers on Geno Smith

"Geno Smith will rejoin his former head coach, Pete Carroll, in Las Vegas this season. After he was unable to come to terms on a new deal with Seattle, Smith was shipped off to Vegas for a third-round draft pick. Smith will stabilize the position for the Raiders and should enjoy riding off into the sunset with both Smith and Carroll in the twilight of their careers."

Meanwhile, Darnold came in at number 17 in their QB rankings.

Rotoballers on Sam Darnold

"Geno Smith is out, and Sam Darnold is in. The Seahawks shipped Smith off to Vegas and signed Darnold to a three-year deal. Darnold will look to replicate his 2024 success in Seattle with a team that is not as potent on offense as the 2024 Vikings. Still, Darnold will have Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp at his disposal. If the Seahawks address the offensive line in the draft, this could be a major win at quarterback for the team."

From our perspective both of these two are ranked too low. Smith had a down-2023 season but that had more to do with poor playcalling and a total lack of pass protection than anything Smith was doing wrong. Geno should also project to rise as he'll be playing half of his games indoors where he thrives best and will be getting a significantly better offensive line in Vegas.

At the very least Geno should be ranked ahead of Aaron Rodgers, Kyler Murray, C.J. Stroud, Dak Prescott and Brock Purdy, which would put him at 15th in our own rankings. Meanwhile, Darnold should be placed ahead of those five quarterbacks as well as Bo Nix and Tua Tagovailoa, which would rank him 12th in the league.

The difference between the 15th-best and the 12th-best quarterbacks in the NFL doesn't look like all that much on paper - but on the field it's a huge margin. More importantly, Darnold is not done growing. At just 27 years old his best football could still be ahead of him, while Geno (who's 34) is likely to at least begin declining some point in the next two seasons. Darnold is also coming for at least $12 million a year cheaper than it would have cost to re-sign Smith - and possibly even more.

Overall, this was as solid a move at quarterback as the Seahawks were going to make in 2025. It shouldn't stop them from drafting another potential franchise QB, but the move has put them in better position to compete - if they could only manage to fix that offensive line.

Rotoballers on Geno Smith

Rotoballers on Sam Darnold

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