Seahawks

Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald Wants QB Geno Smith Back As Starter

January 7, 2025

Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald has been vocal with his support of QB Geno Smith, saying he thinks the veteran returning for the 2025 season is “what’s best” for the team.

“I want Geno to be here,” Macdonald said, via Curtis Crabtree. “The first thing that always comes back is what’s best for the team? I feel like Geno is best for the team right now.”

Macdonald continued that he “looks forward” to building off of Smith’s productivity in 2024.

“We did a lot of really good things (as a team). And one of those things is Geno’s productivity and this is something that I’m looking forward to building off of. I thought he had a really good year,” Macdonald said, per Crabtree.

Macdonald said he’ll be “involved” in Smith’s looming contract talks and reiterated that they “love him as our starting quarterback.”

“I’ll be involved with it. Ultimately it’s not my decision. It’s a Seahawks decision, but Geno knows how we feels about him and we love him as our starting quarterback, for sure,” Macdonald said, via Brady Henderson.

Earlier this week, Macdonald made the following comments on a radio show when asked if he expects Smith to return in 2025: “Got no reason to say no, so I guess yeah.”

Smith, 34, 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 signed a three-year extension with the Seahawks worth $105 million in March of last year. He just finished the second year of his deal where he made a base salary of $12.7 million fully guaranteed, while he’ll bring in another $14.8 million base salary in 2025.

In 2024, Smith made 17 starts for the Seahawks and completed 70.4 percent of his passes for 4,320 yards, 21 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions. He also recorded 53 rushing attempts for 272 yards and two touchdowns.