The position at the top of the Jets’ offensive organizational flow chart has been filled with the trade for Geno Smith, but the rest of the O-chart, besides G Dylan Parham, has mostly subtle changes after the first wave of the unrestricted free agency signing period that began last Wednesday has passed.
Smith comes back to the team that drafted him in Round 2 in 2013 and for which he played his first four pro seasons. And he comes back with an attitude that mirrors those upbeat words of Nick Folk last year and Demario Davis this past week. When Smith arrived as a Raider last year, fans will remember his bold opening salvo: “I didn’t come to Vegas to roll the dice. I came to run the table.” In his second tenure wearing green and white, he made a less showy entrance, saying what returning to 1 Jets Drive meant to him:
“Just to have an opportunity to continue to play this game that I love so much, and to be part of that organization again, the organization that gave me a chance coming out of West Virginia and really believed in me. Although it didn’t go exactly as planned, somehow, someway, we got back here. And I’m eager to make things right if I can.”
Things went south in Vegas last season, and some but not all of that was on Smith’s shoulders. But the three seasons before LV, in SEA, he showed as a Seahawk his growing professionalism, as well as some of those Mountaineer traits that prompted the Jets to initially invest in him. He was the starter for three winning Seattle teams, one a playoff outfit. He threw for 4,000 yards twice. His 70.4% accuracy in ’24 hearkened back to his pinpoint senior season at WVU when he hit 71.2% of his throws. Over the past five seasons combined, he is No. 4 among all QBs in attempts, completions, yards and first downs.
Whether the Geno Smith Reality Tour lasts beyond the 2026 season depends many things. Smith, of course, but also simpatico relationships with the subunits around him as well as with long-time QB molders in new OC Frank Reich and new QBs coach Bill Musgrave as well as another new coach with a familiar name, pass game coordinator Seth Ryan.