The Seahawks’ quarterback room has some serious name value. Behind starter Russell Wilson, the club is currently rostering both Geno Smith and Paxton Lynch. 
The odds of both players making the final cut is slim. Historically, the Seahawks have carried only two quarterbacks on the 53-man roster and both players have their warts.
Smith, a former second-round pick of the Jets, has yet to do much at the pro level. Once positioned as the Jets’ starting quarterback, his last attempt at NFL relevance was stopped by the fist of a teammate and a subsequently broken jaw. Lynch, a former first-round pick of the Broncos, lost the starting QB competition twice to former seventh-round pick Trevor Siemian.
To date, Lynch has four career starts on his resume with a 61.7% completion rate, 792 passing yards yards, four touchdowns, and four interceptions. Smith – who has 40 career appearances with 31 starts – hasn’t fared much better in a larger sample. He’s completed 57.7% of his throws with just 29 touchdowns against 36 picks.
One of these QBs will probably be out of Seattle by the time September rolls around, and there’s a chance that both will be gone. Last year, the Seahawks traded for Brett Hundley in the preseason and installed him as Wilson’s backup, so the Seahawks’ next No. 2 QB could be with another team as of this writing.
If things don’t work out for Lynch or Smith, they’ll have options. Despite their missteps, they’re both on the right side of 30 and may still hold appeal for evaluators who considered drafting them just a few years ago. And, if an NFL opportunity doesn’t present itself, both players may find a home in the upstart XFL.
“We’re watching the backup quarterback camp battles. One of these guys is going to get cut,” XFL commissioner Oliver Luck said of the Smith/Lynch situation. “There’s a bunch of those going on. We might not get all of those guys, the quote-unquote loser of those, but a Geno or Paxton is not going to end up on a practice squad. There are a bunch of 3-4-5-year guys that are in that boat. They’ve been on rosters, practice squad, been yo-yo’d two years. They need to play, and that’s my argument to them, that it’s very doable here.”
Both players have just $25K guaranteed on their one-year deals, so the Seahawks wouldn’t lose much by releasing either player.
31 league GMs understand that you need to carry at least 3 QBs on the roster but the guy in Seattle is going to prove them all wrong. Can’t wait to hear his explanation for a wasted season if Wilson gets injured.
So carrying a backups backup would somehow fix your ‘wasted season?’ Come on, Jeep the flexibility, carry two, and if doomsday strikes you have the choice later to get some 3rd rate guy.
There have been several occasions where a team lost both the starter and backup QB in the same game. What does the GM do then…trot out to midfield with a megaphone and ask if anyone in the stands would like to have a go? No one is expecting the third or fourth guy on the depth chart to be a savior but a GM that can’t be bothered to have contingency plans is not helping his coaches at all.
Actually the Seahawks carry several team-mates that have college QB experience who could be used to help finish a game, they wouldn’t be anyone’s choice to lead an NFL offense, much less lead a comeback in the fourth quarter, but much the same can be said of back-up QBs around the league, yet alone 3rd tier backup backups. For instance, current TE Swoopes played QB for the UT Longhorns
No nfl team has 3 active qbs each game. Just saying dude. Your point is silly.
The Seahawks, among others, have only carried two QBs for years. I honestly don’t remember the last time they carried three. 2011? Wilson, Flynn, T-Jack?