Seahawks coach Pete Carroll did his regular rounds with the media on Monday, the last time he’ll do so for the 2022 season.
With Seattle’s season ending on Saturday in Santa Clara, the first order of business now is what to do with their new possible franchise quarterback, Geno Smith.
Smith is coming off a career-best, breakout year, having broken Russell Wilson’s team record for passing yards in a season, leading the NFL in completion percentage and posting 30 touchdowns to go with 11 interceptions. That’s enough to earn Smith a substantial raise from the one-year, prove-it deal he got last offseason. The question is how much.
Speaking on ESPN 710 Seattle yesterday, Carroll said the team has had preliminary conversations with Smith on a new contract.
Pete says there’s been preliminary discussions with Geno Smith about coming back, but they're not too deep into it yet. But, they'll get there eventually.
“Feel assured, John (Schneider) is all over it," Pete says
— Dugar, Michael-Shawn (@MikeDugar) January 16, 2023
The Seahawks have until March 15 to work something out. If Smith hasn’t re-signed by then he will become an unrestricted free agent.
If the talks don’t go well one possibility is using the franchise tag on Smith, which would come out to $32 million this year. 32 is also Smith’s age, which will be one of several factors working against Smith at the negotiating table. The others are the team’s No. 5 overall draft pick, which is high enough to land one of the top quarterback prospects in this year’s class – as well as Smith’s rash of turnovers in the second half of the season.
Nevertheless, Smith is worth bringing back and at least publicly Pete Carroll has said the team loves him and wants him back. Over the weekend NFL Network reported that Smth will return in 2023, one way or another.
