Geno Smith To Sign With Chargers

It looks like Philip Rivers will have a new backup quarterback. Geno Smith and the Chargers reached an agreement on a deal that will bring Smith to Los Angeles, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. It’s a one-year deal, per Schefter and ESPN.com’s Eric Williams.

Smith will reunite with Anthony Lynn, who was a Jets offensive assistant during his first two seasons with the team.

The sixth-year quarterback met with both the Bolts and Seahawks this offseason, with the Chargers receiving the first meeting. He will trek to L.A., leaving Seattle without a proven backup to Russell Wilson. Smith and Cardale Jones are now in line to fill out the Chargers’ Rivers-centric QB meetings.

Having spent a year backing up the player once traded for Rivers, Smith made one start for the Giants and ended up snapping Eli Manning‘s historic streak. That caused quite a bit of uproar and accelerated the changing of the guard in New York. Smith saw action in just two Giants games last season and only three Jets contests from 2015-16, with the infamous locker room skirmish with IK Enemkpali playing a role in sidetracking the former second-round pick’s career.

Entering his age-28 season, Smith holds a career 57.9 completion percentage and has thrown 29 touchdown passes compared to 36 interceptions. He started a loss to the Raiders in Oakland last season, completing 21 of 34 tosses with a touchdown on a depleted Big Blue team.

Rivers has not missed a start since taking over the Bolts’ passing reins in 2006. Jones did not throw a pass last season with the Bolts. Longtime Rivers backup Kellen Clemens, who threw eight passes in 2017, is a free agent. Rivers’ backup for the past four seasons, Clemens seems poised to head elsewhere now. The Seahawks could be a fit, with the 34-year-old quarterback having worked under new Seattle OC Brian Schottenheimer with the Rams earlier this decade.

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