Raiders quarterback: Geno Smith is the new leader of the pack

Reshaped quarterback room shouldn’t preclude Las Vegas from drafting one

A quarterback room of Aidan O’Connell and Carter Bradley isn’t ideal for any football team.

The Las Vegas Raiders realized this and sent a 2025 third-round pick to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for veteran Geno Smith. Not only does the Silver & Black reunite the quarterback with head coach Pete Carroll, but Las Vegas rolls the dice to land it’s QB1 for the upcoming season.

Smith’s arrival in Las Vegas makes him the leader of the pack and the 34-year-old quarterback is heavily favored to be the starter for Carroll once more.

In four seasons in Seattle, Smith threw for 8,641 yards (791 of 1,171, 67.5 percent completion rate) with 55 touchdowns and 21 interceptions. He rushed for 561 yards in that timespan for three touchdowns. But Smith was also sacked 91 times from 2020 to 2023 with Carroll as Seahawks boss.

This past season, Smith threw for 4,320 yards (407 of 578, 70.4 percent) with 21 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in Seattle. He galloped for 272 yards and two touchdowns. But was sacked a career-high 50 times.

That duo of O’Connell and Bradley were set be the remnants of the quarterback room as the Raiders didn’t tender restricted free agent Desmond Ridder and informed veteran Gardner Minshew he’ll be released when the new league year starts this coming Wednesday.

Not impressed with that?

You weren’t alone.

The Raiders felt the same and, according to FOX Sports’ Jordan Schultz, Carroll spoke to Seahawks general manager John Schneider about a trade after Seattle and Smith were unable to get a long-term deal done. Schultz noted Raiders minority owner Tom Brady was on board with the move and thus, a third-round pick in next month’s 2025 NFL Draft was the cost.

That all said, while the Raiders are “set” at quarterback for now with the trio of Smith, O’Connell, and Bradley, that group shouldn’t preclude the team from adding more talent at the position group. No, I’m not necessarily talking about free agency, which is a mere few days away — with the legal tampering window slated to open this coming Monday. If general manager John Spytek, Carroll, and Brady find a quarterback worthy of adding to the quarterback room, so be it.

I’m specifically referring to the draft in late April.

Smith knows what Carroll expects and wants out of his quarterback and can be an effective signal caller despite his age. He has a strong arm that’s accurate and has the wiggle to move around or escape the pocket.

But adding another young gun to the quarterback room creates more competition and that’s something that’s been absent for the Raiders for far too long. The malarkey competition between Minshew and O’Connell shouldn’t happen again — ever.

Carroll did this particular song and dance before in Seattle when the Seahawks traded for Matt Flynn before drafting Russell Wilson in the third round of the 2012 draft. That proved a fortuitus turn of events for Seattle. Now look, I’m not saying there’s a long-term starter in the mid rounds like Wilson in the upcoming 2025 rendition, but for a Raiders team that doesn’t have a storied history of drafting and developing long-term starters, they’d best keep swinging and not be scared to stack the quarterback room.

While some in Raider Nation saw improvement from O’Connell in 2024 — poll results netted 502 votes (56 percent) that believe the signal caller improved, while 387 votes (44 percent) didn’t see improvement — what’s not arguable is the dearth of quality competition at the all-important position.

Thus, as the draft proceeds, if a quarterback prospect Las Vegas likes is there for the picking, go on and do so.

Point After: What an interesting scenario it’d be if Colorado’s Shedur Sanders is on the board when the Raiders are on the clock at No. 6 overall. If that were to happen, I’d love to see how it plays out. You could make an argument to take Sanders or trade the pick to another team that wants to snag a quarterback. Me, I’d trade down to acquire more assets to build out the team.