“Too good of an opportunity to pass up” - Raiders GM makes feelings clear on trading for Geno Smith

The new Las Vegas Raiders general manager, John Spytek, doesn't appear to regret his decision to acquire Geno Smith. The quarterback reunited with coach Pete Carroll when the Raiders traded for him on March 13. They gave up the 92nd pick in the 2025 draft to bring him over.

“We used a late third-round pick to hopefully have our starting quarterback here for years to come. And it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up,” Spytek said on Thursday (h/t NFL.com).

The Raiders were 4-13 last season and hold the sixth overall pick in next month's draft, leading many to believe they might pursue a quarterback when they are on the clock.

“As we got into it and we evaluated the options in free agency, the other players that maybe were available via trade, ultimately we arrived at a spot where we thought adding Geno made a lot of sense for us,” Spytek said.

Smith is entering the final year of his contract extension with the Seahawks, which has $31 million remaining. Seattle was able to save that much in cap space as part of this deal, though they had to take $13.5 million in dead money.

Geno Smith is a proven performer

When he took over the starting quarterback role from Russell Wilson ahead of the 2022 season, few expected much out of Geno Smith.

After all, he'd failed to have a winning season with the New York Jets early into his career and had short, unsuccessful spells with the New York Giants and Los Angeles Chargers. He was also stepping into the shoes of a hugely successful pivot beloved by Seattle fans, guiding them to their only Super Bowl triumph and making several Pro Bowls.

Smith, however, quickly became a big success story behind the center for the Seahawks, leading them to three straight winning seasons and a playoff berth. He was also selected to the Pro Bowl twice in that span. He led the league in completion percentage in 2022 (69.8), while he had a 70.4 completion percentage a season ago.

The veteran is projected to be a significant upgrade from the Raiders quarterback room in 2024, which consisted of Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell as the primary two pivots.

He showed in Seattle that he can thrive as a starting quarterback in the right situation.