Geno Smith, a former Seattle Seahawks quarterback, reportedly asked the organisation to trade him this week after contract extension talks with general manager John Schneider and other front office members failed.
The quarterback appeared to want a new contract worth at least $40 million a season, which Seattle declined to offer. Schneider appears to have made one of his initial phone calls to the Las Vegas Raiders. This made sense. This offseason, Las Vegas hired Pete Carroll, the former head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. Carroll and the Seahawks maintained a positive connection, and Geno Smith was always a great supporter of his former coach.
Carroll, however, does not make the same moves with the Raiders that he did with the Seahawks. He is the head coach. Las Vegas is partially owned by future NFL Hall of Famer Tom Brady, and John Spytek is the general manager. Carroll may have been more willing to accept Schneider’s offer, but what about the rest of the Raiders’ brass? Not very much.
The Las Vegas Raiders turned down the Seattle Seahawks’ initial trade talks for Geno Smith.
The biggest issue is that Schneider appears to have gone all-in on what he intended to receive back from the Raiders. In return for Geno Smith, the Seahawks’ general manager desired edge rusher Maxx Crosby. According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, Las Vegas not only said “no,” but they did so quickly.
The Seahawks began trade talks with the Raiders with this outrageous offer: Geno Smith and DK Metcalf to Vegas for Maxx Crosby. Vegas quickly shot it down, informing Seattle that Crosby was unavailable.
But conversations proceeded, and Geno became a Raider. — Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer), March 8, 2025.
Perhaps Schneider knew he’d never get Crosby, but it was worth asking. After all, Seattle is clearly going to try to rebuild the squad around how excellent new head coach Mike MacDonald’s defence is. It made sense to add Crosby, an edge rusher who had at least 10 sacks in three of his six seasons in the NFL. Nonetheless, Las Vegas wanted to keep him.
In fact, Crosby proved to be more valuable to the Raiders than Geno Smith was to the Seahawks. In the end, Seattle obtained a third-round pick for the quarterback. One has to wonder whether Seahawks wide out DK Metcalf will join the Raiders, along with Pete Carroll, albeit Las Vegas will likely have to give up more for the receiver.
Seattle, even if Metcalf remains on the team and is not dealt, is beginning over offensively. Schneider is now firmly on the hot seat after a disappointing offseason (a terrible draft and free-agent class) last year and trading the team’s quarterback this year. If things go wrong in 2025, Schneider will bear almost exclusive responsibility.
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