Despite what’s taken place for the Las Vegas Raiders, is there a case to be made for quarterback Geno Smith to get a second year with the Silver and Black?
Smith’s sudden fall from bridge-quarterback solution to alleged surplus part is striking but hardly shocking. Months ago, he was viewed as steady enough to shepherd a rookie. He was also affordable enough to justify the investment. Plus, he was trusted enough for Pete Carroll to praise him like a cherished heirloom. Now, after a few bad Sundays and a handful of headlines, the narrative has flipped: Smith is being treated as a clearance-rack impulse buy the Raiders should pay $18.5 million just to discard.
This is where the sarcasm meets the reality of the Raiders…
If you are already paying nearly $20 million in guaranteed cash, the privilege of not having Smith on the roster is not a fiscal strategy; it is performance art. The Raiders have tried that approach for years, and all it has produced is a rotating cast of provisional starters and emergency replacements who make Smith look like stability incarnate.
Cutting Smith may clear $8 million in 2026 cap room, but there is a cost to turning the quarterback room into an annual anthropology study. Draft a rookie? Absolutely. Hand him the franchise in Week 1? Absolutely not. Not in this ecosystem. Not behind this offensive line, and not with this staff in flux. The fastest way to ruin a rookie is to remove every competent adult in the room. Smith may be imperfect, but he remains that adult.
Claims that Smith’s play has not “backed it up” ignore context much like the Raiders ignore situational football. He has worked in a system lacking continuity, protection, and coherent design, yet his baseline competence has kept the offense from collapsing entirely. Compared with the weekly raffle between Pickett and O’Connell, choosing the veteran who can run the operation should not require an organizational séance.
Carroll’s loyalty to No. 7 is not a flaw; it is an asset. If the Raiders draft a quarterback—and they should—keeping a veteran who knows the system and stabilizes the room is the responsible move.
This team does not need another teardown. It needs an adult under center, and Geno Smith is still that adult.
*Top Photo: Ramble Illustration/Getty Images