Geno Smith will indeed prove to be a one-and-done passer in Vegas. Barring a last-minute trade, the Raiders will release the veteran, as first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter. 
Smith’s future has been in question since Vegas secured the No. 1 pick in April’s draft. Earlier this week, signs increasingly pointed to a release taking place in the event no trade partner was found. Suitors will no doubt wait for Smith to become a free agent before making a push to acquire him.
The 35-year-old does not appear to be particularly downtrodden over today’s development, given his reaction on social media. Smith will become one of many veteran quarterbacks on the market with free agency looming. A long-term commitment would come as a surprise, but NFL insider Jordan Schultz reports multiple teams are expected to show interest in this case.
The Seahawks brought in Klint Kubiak as their offensive coordinator last offseason. That set up a potential pairing with Smith, but with Seattle bringing in Sam Darnold Smith wound up being dealt to Vegas. Immediately after the Super Bowl, Kubiak was hired by the Raiders as their new head coach. Once again, though, no time will be spent with Smith in his case. A parting of ways points even further to Vegas selecting Fernando Mendoza first overall in April.
That remains the widespread expectation, but Dianna Russini of The Athletic cautions the Raiders’ preference would be to have Mendoza sit at the beginning of his rookie campaign. If insurance for the Heisman winner is to be added, Russini points to free agency as the route GM John Spytek and Co. will take. Vegas is not lacking in cap space, so finances will not be an issue when QB options are evaluated.
Cutting Smith will yield $8MM in cap savings while generating a dead money charge of $18.5MM. He was on course to see $8MM in 2026 compensation become guaranteed on March 13, leading to the timing of this decision. Smith will join Kyler Murray and – in all likelihood – Tua Tagovailoa as starting quarterbacks released by their respective teams. Their free agent prospects will be worth watching closely once the new league year begins next week.
In 2022, Smith earned Comeback Player of the Year honors with a strong Seattle showing. The team’s Russell Wilson replacement led the NFL in completion percentage that season, and in the following year he secured a second straight Pro Bowl nod. Smith landed a new Seahawks contract in 2023, and he inked a two-year, $75MM pact upon arrival in Vegas. A less lucrative deal is no doubt coming this time around after the former second-rounder topped the league in interceptions (17) in 2025.
Offensive success proved highly difficult to come by for Vegas this past season. Kubiak and a much different coaching staff is now in place, and his ability to develop Mendoza and a core led by tight end Brock Bowers and running back Ashton Jeanty will be critical moving forward. Smith will not be part of that effort, as his next NFL opportunity awaits.
Wouldn’t it be NFL poetry, if the Jets signed him!
It really is time to go back. Finish what he started.
Jets it is. Bridge to 2027 #1 pick.
IK Enemkpali has something to say about that.
It would be the Jets following the Raiders master plan… get Geno suck for a year… fire the coach, hire a young offensive coach, draft Arch Manning next year…
Predictably terrible trade and deal.
I know you have to have a QB, but he really wasn’t that good in Seattle in his last year, took 50 sacks, and Smith, Metcalf and Lockett to throw to.
Yes, all those sacks were his fault /s
But he def makes a nice stopgap for a team waiting for a franchise QB next year
They still won 10 games.
Last year was ugly, but I think he’s likely still a top 30 quarterback when he’s not in that situation and he’ll only cost the vet minimum.
He’ll cost more than that, this isn’t baseball.
No, he’ll cost the veteran minimum to his new team because the Raiders will still be paying him. The same way the Steelers only paid Russell Wilson $1.2 million for the year they had him because Denver was still paying him.
As a Seahawk fan I want to thank the Raiders for all they’ve done to make my team Super Bowl champions!
Don’t forget Den trading for Russ!!!
I really hope Mendoza does well, but I”m a little worried about him at the next level.
I wouldn’t count on him being a top eight guy or anything, but barring some big injury, I’d be very surprised if he isn’t at least a solidly good starting quarterback.
If the Raiders don’t surround him with a better O-Line and some more weapons, then he should be able to develop into a good player
It would be hard to do worse. Plenty of money to spend on improvements, but even just having better health luck from Bowers and not having the line coached by Pete Carroll’s kid should help a lot.
Back up qb but he will get some snaps as a starting qb gets injured.
This seems foolish w/o any other details at the moment. Why not trade him, he will likely start for some team and that had value. Also he can start for raiders and mentor new QB like we saw with Brady and Rodgers and love and so on.
Hoping the team has a plan and knows better than us fans. But the last 20 years proved they don’t.
They’d love to trade him but no one is trading for that contract. They will wait for Raiders to release him and get him for vet minimum or slightly above instead. Raiders save money by releasing him vs having a very expensive backup QB.
And please no calls for the steelers to sign him.
Why? He can at least throw downfield and knows Metcalf?
Bro needs to sit a year or push a young QB in camp. Only spots that even remotely make sense is Vikings to push JJ or commanders to backup Daniels since Mariota is a free agent