Quarterback Geno Smith signed a three-year contract extension with the Raiders last week and the numbers in the deal aren't significantly different than what he was looking at with the Seahawks before the March trade that sent him to Las Vegas, but the overall picture is a different one.
Smith told Albert Breer of SI.com that he enjoyed playing for Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald last season, but that he was looking "to be respected" along with getting paid as he considered an extension. Smith said he felt his conversations with Seattle showed a "disconnect" in where they wanted to go and that it was something he had discussed with former Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll.
Carroll was hired as the new Raiders head coach in January and Smith said that when he heard the Raiders were interested in trading for him it was an opportunity that was "too, too, too great to pass up." The situation was made even better by the presence of minority owner Tom Brady and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, who tried to recruit Smith to Oregon many years before coaching his cousin Jermaine at Ohio State in 2024.
“I think if you believe in fate, you believe in things like that, then it’s like the stars are all aligning, right?” Smith said. “It’s all the things that you would want. I could see Pete, but all the guys that he would want to be a part of it? We’re here, we’re doing this thing together. And I was sick, man, when [Carroll] left Seattle — I was sick. And I didn’t see this coming. I think it’s going to be great for both of us.”
Smith made an unexpected return to the limelight while with the Seahawks and said it was a "great situation" for him. He added that he believes the situation in Vegas may be even better and the Raiders would welcome the same kind of positive developments he brought to the offense during his time in Seattle.
