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The future of Geno Smith with the Las Vegas Raiders remains uncertain. Nonetheless, despite is disappointing 2025 NFL season, the veteran QB still has a market should the Silver and Black decide to cut ties with him this offseason.
Last season, Smith had a passer rating of 84.7 with 3,025 yards, 19 touchdowns, and 17 interceptions in 15 games for the Raiders, per StatMuse. Now, in defense of Smith, the argument could be made that he was playing behind a disastrous offensive line.
As a result, Yahoo! Sports’ Matt Harmon believes that Smith would be a compelling fit for the Minnesota Vikings.
“I think [Minnesota would] love to get somebody in there that they can sort of say is competition for J.J. McCarthy, when they would be the odds‑on favorite to be the Week 1 starter,” Harmon said in a Feb. 17 video posted by Yahoo! Sports. “Maybe they don’t start all year, but yeah, frame it that way, like, ‘Hey, we’re just bringing in someone to push J. J.
“And if they push, whoever this person is pushes J.J. out of the starting lineup, which maybe he can reclaim at some point. So they would make sense as a Geno Smith, Tanner McKee team, because I think [Smith is] out of Las Vegas. I think they would make a lot of sense as a Geno Smith, Tanner McKee team.”
Geno Smith Option for Vikings Receives Major Backing
Moreover, Harmon isn’t the only one floating Smith as a solid option for Minnesota. The Athletic’s Derrik Klassen believes that if the Raiders move on from Smith, the Vikings are an ideal spot for him.
Moreover, Klassen stated that if the Las Vegas QB had been on the Vikings this past season, they would have had double-digit wins. As a result, he’s urging the Vikings to consider Smith as a QB option this offseason.
“I’ll hop back on the Geno Smith [to the Vikings],” Klassen said on the Feb. 13 edition of The Athletic Football Show. “[The Vikings are] an 11- win team with Geno Smith. If he’s throwing to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, and has that offensive line, which I don’t think is a special offensive line, but is leaps and bounds better than what he was stuck behind in Las Vegas last year.
“Again, I don’t know if it’s going to be superstar level, maybe not even as good as peak Seattle or whatever, but to me it is going to be a tier or two above what J.J. McCarthy was giving you.”
Should the Raiders Keep Geno Smith for Next Season?
While many Raiders fans would be happy to see Smith leave after one season, ESPN’s Mike Tannenbaum believes that he is still the ideal player to serve as a stopgap QB for Las Vegas rather than cutting ties with him.
“I am drafting Fernando Mendoza No. 1,” Tannenbaum said on the Feb. 13 edition of “Get Up” before saying what many Raiders fans will find controversial. “I am not playing him from Day 1. Geno Smith is under contract. He’s the ideal bridge quarterback.
“You just gave up a third-round pick for him… but I think the Raiders are set up ideally at the quarterback position with Geno Smith [and] Fernando Mendoza.”
Eduardo Razo Eduardo Razo is a sports writer for Heavy.com, covering the NFL, MLB, and college football. He has previously covered the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB for NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Bay Area & California, and has freelanced for PSG Talk, covering Paris Saint-Germain. He also worked as an editor at Athlon Sports, focusing on MLB and the NFL. More about Eduardo Razo
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