Geno Smith making it clear in Seahawks camp that quarterback is his job

SEATTLE – The NFL being the media behemoth that it is, there were some who tried this offseason to paint the Seahawks as having a quarterback competition after they acquired Sam Howell in March in a trade with Washington.

The Seahawks never gave any indication there was a competition afoot between returning starter Geno Smith and Howell.

Through the first three days of training camp, Smith has only lengthened the distance in the race – assuming there ever really was one.

Smith highlighted Friday’s practice with a number of timely and accurate passes, including a long TD pass to DK Metcalf in an early team session and a handful of scoring tosses during situational red-zone and goal-line sessions. Through three workouts, he has just one interception, which came on a perfectly timed jump by Julian Love of an out route during a third-down drill on Thursday.

Simply put, the difference between Smith and Howell has been about as striking as the hits once levied on this field by the famed Legion of Boom defense.

“Geno looks great, man,” gushed veteran defensive lineman Jarran Reed after Friday’s practice at the VMAC “… I think he looks so focused this year. His timing is good, his reads are good. Everything he’s doing right now is elite. I think he’s on an elite level right now and I’m so excited to see what our offense has to bring this year.”

He’s not the only one.

How Smith and the rest of the offensive players adapt to the schemes of new coordinator Ryan Grubb – hired by new head coach Mike Macdonald in the wake of guiding Michael Penix Jr. to a second-place finish in the Heisman and helping lead Washington to the national title game – looms as one of the most intriguing Seahawks storylines of the season.

Smith talked to reporters after Friday’s practice for the first time during camp and raved about what thinks the potential of the offense can be, while noting it’s still early in the process.

“It’s a work in progress,” Smith said. “We are only three days into camp. We’ve got a long way to go. There can be no complacency in this group, and I don’t see that. Everyone has got to continue to push themselves and try to get better every single day. That’s the reason we are out there. That’s the reason for training camp. You want to build up to the season. You shouldn’t be at your best right now. But I do feel like we are at a really good spot. We’ve just got to push each other every single day.”

Smith said the differences in the offense Grubb is installing versus the one run the past three years by Shane Waldron aren’t easily categorized. He resisted the idea that there are necessarily big changes in strategy. Instead, he said the changes are more in the details.

“I just think there is a different way that we are doing things,” Smith said. “I just think with Grubb and his system, he has proven that he can stretch the field and if you’ve got to throw short or underneath, it’s there, too. The best thing he does is give us options. He gives us answers, and it’s up to us to find where the ball should go based on what the defense does.”

When the offense doesn’t find the right answer, Smith indicated Grubb lets them know about it.

“He’s a laid-back guy,” Smith said. “He’s a cool, calm collected guy. But he knows his stuff and he’s very stern and he wants it done a certain way and it’s my job, it’s our job, to continue to live up to those expectations. And that’s why we are out there on the field. We’ve got to prove it every day.”

Smith and other skill position players used some of their summer continuing to get comfortable with the offense in sessions that essentially spanned the country.

Smith said he first worked out with some players, including second-year receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, at his home in the Miami area. He also worked out with some players in Dallas at SMU and finished up at UCLA.

Smith said he’s seen the value in those workouts during the first few days of camp.

“Just the sharpness in what we are doing, just the accuracy,” he said. “It’s a new offense, a new system, and you can see guys out there just picking things up really fast, and I think a lot of that is the personal studying guys are doing and some of the work that we put in on our own, as well.”

Smith has always been comfortable leading such sessions. He said he feels his leadership has only grown as he’s become the Seahawks’ starter the past two seasons following the trade of Russell Wilson.

Smith’s status as the starter was strengthened in the offseason when the Seahawks readjusted his contract to essentially secure his spot on the team for 2024.

True, that contract adjustment, in the eyes of many, makes his future a little cloudier since it increased his salary-cap hit from $26.4 million in 2024 to $38.5 million in 2025, and also has no guaranteed money in 2025.

Given that the team is unlikely to want to carry that big of a cap hit if it can avoid it – and that Smith may not want to play on a deal that has just one year remaining – he seems unlikely to play on that contract next year, meaning the team will again have a decision to make regarding Smith next offseason.

That discussion is for the future with Smith saying he is focused solely on the now.

He predicted Friday the Seahawks will get an even better version of himself this season.

“Everything,” he said when asked which areas of his game he thinks have improved this year. “I’ve gotten better at every single thing, including leadership. All those things have got to get better and I’m going to take it day-by-day. That’s kind of my mindset. I really don’t look too far ahead, but I do see improvements within myself.”

While a player saying he feels as good as ever physically can come off like a training-camp cliché, Smith insisted that’s the case.

“To be 33, about to be 34 (his birthday is Oct. 10), I’ve gotten faster, I’ve gotten stronger, I’ve put on more muscle,” said Smith, who suffered a groin injury late last season that caused him to miss two games, and knee and ankle injuries that caused him to sit out some of a win over the Giants. “… Just that mindset I’ve talked about of always wanting to get better and just trying to push yourself.”

Through three days of training camp, it’s become clearer that the only one pushing Smith – when it comes to the starting quarterback job, anyway – is Smith himself.