A big part of that quality support has to be a scheme that suits Smith\u2019s strengths. In Seattle, Smith\u2019s comfort level was so strong that he emerged as a Pro Bowl-level quarterback in his 30s despite never being anywhere close to a league-average quarterback over his first nine NFL seasons.<\/p>\n
In Las Vegas, Smith played under a scraped-together staff that saw its head coach and offensive coordinator go one-and-done. Nothing about the Raiders organization, on or off the field, was functional. It translated to a passing game that never appeared to be on the same page.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not to say the Jets organization is any more functional until proven otherwise. But if Jets offensive coordinator Frank Reich implements a system<\/a> that matches the strengths and weaknesses of his starting quarterback, New York could win more games than most people expect.<\/p>\n It brings us to the question of the day: Does Geno Smith fit Frank Reich\u2019s scheme?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s analyze Smith and Reich\u2019s historical tendencies to estimate the answer.<\/p>\n What type of routes does Frank Reich like to call?<\/p>\n Using data from FTN Fantasy, we can analyze the frequency at which Reich\u2019s recent offenses targeted each route type.<\/p>\n The chart below shows how often Reich\u2019s teams targeted each route type (as a percentage of pass attempts) across his last three NFL seasons (2021-23), compared to the 2025 league average. The route types are sorted from top to bottom based on how often Reich targeted them compared to the average NFL team in 2025.<\/p>\n Relative to other teams, Reich\u2019s two favorite routes were both in-breakers: in\/dig routes and drag routes. He also liked to call a healthy dosage of screens.<\/p>\n On the other end of the spectrum, Reich\u2019s two least-favorite routes were both vertical deep shots: post routes and go routes.<\/p>\n How does Smith fit into this type of offense?<\/p>\n Geno Smith\u2019s best route types<\/p>\n Now that we know Reich\u2019s route tendencies, we can learn a lot by analyzing Smith\u2019s efficiency at targeting each route type.<\/p>\n In an ideal world, Smith would thrive at Reich\u2019s preferred routes and struggle at Reich\u2019s least favorite routes. This would make Reich\u2019s offense the perfect system to emphasize Smith\u2019s strengths and minimize his weaknesses.<\/p>\n In a less-than-ideal world, Smith would struggle at Reich\u2019s preferred routes, while his strongest routes would be among Reich\u2019s least favorite.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s find out which world we live in.<\/p>\n First, we need an ideal way to understand how proficient Smith is at each route type. We can\u2019t just look at stats like completion percentage or yards per attempt, because these numbers will obviously look very different for screens than for go routes, for instance.<\/p>\n So, we\u2019re going to use our good friend, EPA, which stands for Expected Points Added. This metric accounts for the down, distance, and field position of each play to quantify how \u201cvaluable\u201d the final result is. It tells us a lot more about a player\u2019s true impact on winning than rudimentary stats like yards and touchdowns.<\/p>\n I pulled Smith\u2019s EPA per attempt on each route type and compared it to the 2025 NFL average. This helps us identify the best and worst throws in Smith\u2019s game.<\/p>\n For this exercise, I focused solely on Smith\u2019s 2022-24 seasons as the Seahawks\u2019 quarterback. I figured it made sense to exclude the messy 2025 season in Las Vegas, as the Jets\u2019 goal is to help Smith replicate what he did in Seattle, while throwing everything from Chip Kelly\u2019s putrid Vegas offense in the garbage.<\/p>\n Seen below is the same table we saw above, featuring Reich\u2019s route type frequencies relative to the 2025 NFL average, except this time, the table also includes Smith\u2019s EPA per attempt on each route type compared to the 2025 NFL average.<\/p>\n This table, right here, could explain precisely why the Jets preferred Smith among their realistic quarterback options on the 2026 veteran market.<\/p>\n Reich\u2019s two favorite routes relative to the NFL average, the in\/dig route and the drag route, also happen to be Smith\u2019s two best routes based on EPA per attempt relative to the NFL average\u2014by a longshot, too. Smith was nothing short of elite on those two route types in Seattle.<\/p>\n To boot, Smith\u2019s third-best route, the hitch\/curl route, is Reich\u2019s most commonly used route overall, and his fifth-favorite compared to league average.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum, Smith\u2019s worst route by a country mile, the post route, is also the route type that Reich targets the least frequently compared to league average.<\/p>\n This is precisely the combability you want to see between a coach and his quarterback.<\/p>\n Smith is at his best throwing digs and drags, and those are the routes Reich loves more than any other. Smith is at his worst throwing posts, and that\u2019s just fine, because Reich avoids them more than any other.<\/p>\n Perhaps the most tantalizing aspect is that Reich should allow Smith to use his best route types even more frequently than the Seahawks did.<\/p>\n Here is a look at Smith\u2019s 2022-24 route tendencies compared to Reich\u2019s. The table is sorted from top to bottom by the target percentages of Reich\u2019s teams from 2021-23.<\/p>\n In terms of target frequency, the in\/dig route is by far the biggest separator between Reich\u2019s offenses and the 2022-23 Seahawks offense. Whereas Reich targeted it 2.2% more often than the 2025 league average (8.5%), Smith targeted it 0.9% less often, culminating in a relatively massive 3.1% gap in target frequency.<\/p>\n That means, if Reich plans on calling his offense the same way in New York, Smith will throw far more in\/dig routes than he did in Seattle. Given that the in\/dig route is Smith\u2019s best route (0.285 EPA per attempt above the league average), Smith would benefit greatly from that change.<\/p>\n good old y-cross.<\/p>\n field quarter safety doesn’t stand a chance in robbing Smith-Njigba’s dig, Geno feels the rush and delivers a strike over the middle in rhythm pic.twitter.com\/HSIL8haCiM<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/reich-route-types-2025.png\"\/ "\\"reich-route-types-2025\\"")
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<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/new-york-jets-geno-reich-routes.png\"\/ "\\"new-york-jets-geno-reich-routes\\"")
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