Brady HendersonESPN18:20 ET3 minute read
The NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year returns to Seattle.
The Seahawks and Pro Bowl quarterback Geno Smith have agreed a three-year deal worth $105 million, sources Jeremy Fowler and ESPN’s Adam Schefter confirmed Monday.
The deal is for $52 million in the first year, sources said.
Both sides had expressed optimism that a deal would go through. By reaching an agreement Monday, they beat Tuesday’s deadline for teams to apply the franchise tag, which would have carried a $32.416 million price tag for quarterbacks in 2023.
Smith, 32, was one of the biggest surprises of the 2022 NFL season, earning a Pro Bowl nod and the league’s Comeback Player of the Year award after spending most of the past seven seasons as a backup.
He won the Seahawks’ starting job after Russell Wilson switched to the Denver Broncos — beating widely suspected favorite Drew Lock — and delivered one of the most productive seasons in franchise history. On a one-year, $3.5 million contract, Smith led the league in completion rate (69.8%), finished sixth overall (60.8) and fourth in touchdown passes (30). leading the Seahawks to an unexpected place in the playoffs the seventh seed in the NFC.
That’s a big jump from the 58.8% completion rate and 43.6 QBR he had in 46 games prior to this past season.
Smith started in all 17 regular season games as well as Seattle’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the wild card round, never missing a snap and setting the Seahawks’ season records for completion rate, completions (399) and passing yards (4,282), breaking the marks , which Wilson had put in 16 seasons.
Sales became an issue for Smith over time. He threw seven of his 11 interceptions in the last seven games of the regular season and at one point admitted he was trying to overdo it.
After the playoff loss, an emotional Smith said he wanted to end his career in Seattle, adding he wanted to “pay back” the organization for hugging him at a time when he “probably could have gotten out of the league.” .
Smith had spent the last three seasons as Wilson’s backup in Seattle. The Seahawks re-signed him in April, three months after he was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. Smith has yet to be charged in this case as prosecutors await the results of the blood tests.
Smith, who was drafted second round by the New York Jets of West Virginia in 2013, struggled with turnovers in his first two seasons and then lost his starting job in the summer of 2015 after being punched by a teammate in a notorious locker room was altercation, landing on injured reserve with broken jaw. He spent the 2017 season with the New York Giants after his rookie contract expired, then spent the 2018 season with the Chargers before signing with Seattle in 2019.
When Smith threw two touchdown passes to beat Wilson and the Broncos in Week 1, it marked the NFL’s longest gap between Opening Day starts since 1971. He was the first quarterback since Rich Gannon in 1999 to score for his first Pro Bowl selection that year was 10 or later of his career.
Smith has thrown for 11,199 yards and 64 touchdowns with 48 interceptions in his career.