Seahawks QB Geno Smith said during an appearance on Sirius XM NFL Radio that he has had contract discussions with the team and is optimistic that a deal will be reached.
“I really wanted to prove those guys right, coach [Pete] Carroll, John Schneider, just how much faith they showed in me obviously trading away Russell Wilson,” Smith told SiriusXM NFL Radio. “It had nothing to do with me, but just trading away the franchise cornerstone for 10 years and making the transition, and then a guy like myself who had been written off, been on the beach, and then for them to see the work that I’ve been putting in because I have been putting in an immense amount of work behind the scenes. I do a lot behind the scenes. Just for them to recognize that meant a lot to me. When the season came, they knew what I was going to do. I feel like I did, too, but it just had to happen.”
“We have had talks, and we’re in the process of getting all that settled right now,” Smith added. “It’s looking very good. We think we can get some things done, but obviously, those things take time. This is the process that I hate about the NFL because I just want to play football. But it’s a business as well, so we’ve got to take care of business and then we’ll get back to football.”
According to Ian Rapoport, the Seahawks plan to work on an extension for Smith before the start of free agency in March.
However, if that doesn’t work out, Seattle will use the franchise tag on Smith, which would cost them over $30 million fully guaranteed for the 2023 season.
Smith, 32, is a former second-round pick of the Jets back in 2013. He played out the final year of his four-year, $5.019 million contract before signing a one-year contract worth $2 million with the Giants in 2017.
Smith signed a one-year deal with the Chargers for the 2018 season before joining the Seahawks in 2019. He returned on one-year deals each of the following three seasons before being named the starter in 2022.
He is in line to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
In 2022, Smith appeared in all 17 games for the Seahawks and completed 69.8 percent of his passes for 4,282 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. He also rushed for 366 yards and a touchdown.
We have him included in our Top 100 – 2023 NFL Free Agents list.
We will have more news on Smith as it becomes available.
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