The Las Vegas Raiders traded for quarterback Geno Smith from the Seattle Seahawks earlier this month, bringing in the team's next starting quarterback.
The Raiders were one of several teams in need of a quarterback this offseason, and they took the route of trading for Smith over signing a free agent or solely pursuing a signal-caller in the draft.
Raiders general manager John Spytek recently broke down the team's thought process in their trade for Smith, and particularly the insight they got from head coach Pete Carroll, who previously coached Smith on the Seahawks.
“We were trying to be involved in any possible player movement that there was out there at the quarterback position," Spytek said, via the team's Youtube channel. "Obviously there's a familiarity with coach [Pete Carroll] and with Geno from Seattle, and Geno played his best football for coach there. When you watch Geno through the years, he can throw the football with the best of any of them. You watch some of the throws me makes over and over again, downfield, short, intermediate, the touch is there, the arm strength is there. When you have coach Carroll in your camp, and he can swear by the player, the competitor, the worker, the leader, that's a front row seat."
#Raiders General Manager John Spytek on how the Geno Smith trade happened
— ShifftttyyyQB1🏴☠️ (@raiders1022) March 28, 2025
“We were trying to be involved in any possible player at the QB position”
“I love my picks more than anybody and listen we used a late 3rd round pick on hopefully our Quarterback here for years to come” pic.twitter.com/3Vs4MrgSpu
Along with Carroll's relationship with Smith, only having to give up a third-round pick made the deal for the Raiders even more appealing.
“We evaluated the options in free agency, the other players that were available via trade," Spytek added. "We arrived at a spot where we thought adding Geno made a lot of sense to us. It upgraded the position in our opinion. The compensation from a draft capital standpoint wasn't so costly. I love my picks more than anybody ... We used a late 3rd round pick on hopefully our quarterback here for years to come, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Raiders GM Explains Why Team Traded for Geno Smith.
